Scuola Caravaggesca (XVII) - Sant'Agata - NO RESERVE

Caravaggese School (17th)
Active in Florence, Rome, and Naples during the 1600s.
Sant’Agata
Oil on canvas, 100 x 74 cm


NOTE: Publication of the artworks catalog of the Intermidiart collection. Certificate of Legitimate Provenance. Work without frame:

The painting, an unpublished work, depicts the figure of Saint Agatha emerging from a neutral, dark background. She is shown three-quarters view, looking upward, with both hands on her chest, at the point where her violent martyrdom had already occurred—the tearing of her breasts with tongs. Saint Agatha was one of the most venerated martyrs of early Christianity. She was executed in Catania during the persecution of Christians instigated by Emperor Decius (249-251), for never renouncing her faith. According to the Golden Legend (1288) by Blessed Jacobus de Voragine, Agatha dedicated her virginity to God. She was from a wealthy and noble family and refused the proposals of the Roman prefect Quinzianus, who, to punish her, entrusted her to a brothel keeper. However, even she, finding Agatha determined and incorruptible, refused the task. Quinzianus then, after futile threats and pressures, had her imprisoned, mainly because of her Christian faith. Among the tortures she endured was the cutting of her breasts with tongs. After further dramatic confrontations with Quinzianus—described in the Passio through intense dialogues that testify to her strength and devotion—Agatha was sentenced to be burned. But an earthquake interrupted the execution, saving her. She was returned to prison, where Saint Peter appeared to her and healed her wounds. She died shortly after, in prison, 'in the year of our Lord 253, during the time of Emperor Decius,' as reported in the Golden Legend.
In the work, lively tones are noticeable within the composition, simplified in space. Some parts appear harmonious – such as the face and hair – while others show a certain insecurity and rigidity. Notice also the fingers of the hands, particularly characteristic of the figure, lacking joints and with a tapered shape, as well as the slightly cereous appearance of the flesh.
In the simplicity of the composition, the refinement and quality of a good master emerge clearly in some passages, despite the execution of the painting seeming compromised by disturbances caused by old restorations or clumsy, rough interventions. The scene is permeated by a soft, almost supernatural light, the source of which is not entirely clear. Within this reinterpretation of new pictorial realities, his way of defining the coordinates of a space takes shape, where the limits remain indeterminate, immersed in the perception of a dark background from which the protagonist emerges. The latter is integrated into an explicit narrative through gestures, gazes, postures, along with the ability to define images within the unified dimension of drawing and color.
The painting exhibits an interesting expressive strength of a Caravaggesque character. The artist, therefore, recognizes himself as part of that naturalism characteristic of the Roman and Southern schools, where the language of the Merisi evolves along different strands. The canvas indeed displays stylistic and compositional features of a Caravaggesque taste and of an artist familiar with the works of the Neapolitan school of the early seventeenth century, referencing various anonymous personalities of Stanzionesco culture, and possibly attributing it to a talented painter who stayed in Naples in the mid-seventeenth century.
To clarify, the work reflects the Caravaggesque influences of the painter Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome, 1593 – Naples, around 1654), during her period of activity in Naples. It was likely painted by one of the artists within her circle, mimicking her vigorous naturalism, which from the mid-1930s and 1940s had been enhanced as a result of openings towards aspects of luminous artistic beauty characteristic of the 'Neapolitan' currents.
Artemisia settled in the city of Naples controlled by the Spaniards in 1630. Although she bitterly complained about the city in her letters and persistently sought patronage elsewhere, Artemisia spent twenty-five years in Naples, more than half of her adult life. She was invited to Naples by the Spanish viceroy Fernando Afán de Ribera, third Duke of Alcalá (1583-1637), and Artemisia soon became part of the city's lively cultural life. She had a strong influence on Neapolitan painting and was involved in a series of collaborative projects with other prominent local painters such as Domenico Gargiulo, known as Micco Spadaro (1609/10-circa 1675), and Massimo Stanzione (1585-1656). It is believed that others passed through her workshop; namely Bernardo Cavallino (1616-1656?) and Onofrio Palumbo (or Palomba) (1606-before 1672), the latter specifically named as a collaborator in contemporary sources and documents (see L. Abetti, 'Appendix B', in Porzio, op. cit., 2022, pp. 110-111, nos. 17 and 21). Her fame attracted visits to her studio in Naples by foreigners passing through the city; namely Joachim von Sandrart from Germany, and Bullen Reymes and Nicholas Lanier from England. (S. Barker, 'The Muse of History', in L. Treves ed., Artemisia, exhibition catalog, London, 2020, pp. 81, 88, note 17).
It is highly probable, in light of current knowledge, that the canvas in question, due to its pictorial quality, was painted by an artist close to the studio of Artemisia Gentileschi in Naples, where the artist established a thriving workshop in the 1630s, in which her only surviving daughter, Prudenzia, presumably trained. It was through studying with Artemisia in Naples that the artist was able to benefit from fruitful collaborations with local painters and to spread her figurative repertoire (see G. Porzio, 'Artemisia in Naples. New findings, issues, perspectives', in Artemisia Gentileschi in Naples, exhibition catalog, Naples, 2022, pp. 27-49). Artemisia's activity in Naples marks a particularly complex historical moment in her artistic career, and the commercialization of her work clearly demonstrates her entrepreneurial skills and clever self-promotion: after all, Artemisia was 'the only woman in Naples to run a flourishing workshop, the most celebrated in the city, within an art world dominated by men' (R. Morselli, 'Exhibitions', in Burlington Magazine, CLXV, March 2023, p. 319).
Regarding its conservation state, the canvas presents generally decent conditions considering the age of the painting. The painted surface shows a varnish with a patina. Under Wood light, some scattered restorations and surface oxidation are visible. There are some small losses of color. In sunlight, the craquelure is clearly visible, very prominent in works by the French master. The painting may have been relined in the past, with the replacement of the stretcher. The dimensions of the canvas are 100 x 74 cm. The painting is sold without a frame, although it is enhanced by a beautiful wooden frame.

Origin: Sicilian Private Collection

Publication
Unpublished
Myths and the Territory in Sicily with a thousand cultures. UNPUBLISHED QUADRERIA, general catalog of the paintings from the collection of the cycle 'Myths and the Territory,' Publisher Lab_04, Marsala, 2025.

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