18TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO CARMINE GENTILI

The attribution of the painting to Carmine Gentili (1678-1763) is based on a comparison of the present plaque with a Biblical tondo depicting Susanna proclaiming her innocence in the collection of the Museo di San Martino. The sausage-like fingers and treatment of the faces as well as the squared off floor outined with paired green lines forming diamonds and the use of horizontal brush strokes in shades of green are all found on both pieces. See Teodoro Fittipaldi, Ceramiche: Castelli, Napoli, altre fabbriche, Naples, 1992, vol. I, p. 124, no. 173 and vol. II, p. 120, fig. 173.

San Genaro, patron saint of Naples, served as bishop of Benevento in the fourth century. He was finally martyred by beheading after surviving trial by fire and an attack by wild beasts, these arranged by Timothy, pagan governor of Campagnia, on orders from Emperor Diocletian.