The dimensions and architectural format of the present lot identify it as an altarpiece dateable on stylistic grounds to del Po's maturity, c. 1700-1715. Del Po executed relatively few altarpieces and the remarkable iconography of this painting should eventually make it possible to determine its original provenance, perhaps in the private chapel of a Neopolitan palace or confraternity. It is unusual to find Saint Dominic represented together with the founders and saints of other orders (i.e. Saints Francis and Anthony of Padua), and the Jesuits (Saints Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier). At upper left, Saint Gennaro, patron Saint of Naples, presents the miraculous phials of his blood to the Virgin. At upper right, the Christ Child bestows a scapular on Saint Lucy, parton saint of the Santa Lucia quarter of Naples. During these years, del Po was extensively employed by Don Marino Carafa, Duca di Maddaloni, and it is possible that the present lot was among the artist's paintings executed for the Carafa palace near the church of S. Lucia a Mare, Naples.

Another version of the present lot, identical except for two putti holding a crown above the Madonna and Child, is in the collection of C. Lampronti, Rome; and a preparatory drawing for the Lampronti picture is in a private Roman collection (for both see G. Sestieri in Scritti di Storia dell'arte in onore di Raffaello Causa, Alcuni contributi alla grafica napoletana tra sei e Settencento, 1988, pp. 313-14, figs. 4 and 5 (both as Giacomo del Po)

We are grateful to John T. Spike for confirming the attribution to del Po