PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE LORE AND RUDOLF HEINEMANN SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PIERPONT MORGAN LIBRARY, NEW YORK AND THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON
Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764)

Clorinda rescuing Sofronia and Olindo from the Stake in Jerusalem

Details
Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764)
Clorinda rescuing Sofronia and Olindo from the Stake in Jerusalem
numbered '26'
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white and yellow on brown prepared paper, in a Louis XIV baguette frame
220 x 330 mm.
Exhibited
New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, Drawings from the Collection of Lore and Rudolf Heinemann, 1973, no. 30, illlustrated.

Lot Essay

Similar sheets related to pictures by the artist were exhibited in the Palazzo De Vio, Gaeta, Sebastiano Conca, 1981, nos. 13c-d, 64c, 65c and figs. 1-8.
The subject is taken from Ludovico Ariosto's Gerusalemme Liberata: Sofronia and her lover Olindo were condemned to the stake for having removed from a mosque a statue of the Virgin confiscated by the Muslims. The Amazon Clorinda asked King Aladin to free them in exchange for her help in fighting the Christians.
Although mainly active in Rome, Conca was a pupil of Solimena, whose style influenced Conca throughout his career.

More from Old Master Drawings

View All
View All