The defeat of Darius by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus

Details

Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino 1657-1747 Barra)
The defeat of Darius by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus
oil on canvas
26 x 23 ½ in. (66.1 x 59.6 cm.)

Provenance

(Possibly) Colonna di Stigliano, Naples.
with Hazlitt Gallery, London, by 1969, until 1970,
with Bruno Meissner, Zurich, 1981.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 9 July 1999, lot 208 (£29,900).

Literature

(Possibly) F. Bologna, Francesco Solimena, Naples, 1958, p. 257.

Exhibited

Naples, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Caponimonte; Palazzo Reale; Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes; Museo Nazionale di San Martino; Museo Duca di Martina; Caserta, Palazzo Reale, Civilta del '700 a Napoli 1734-1799, December 1979-October 1980, no. 80, as 'Battalia di Dario contro Allessandro'.
Detroit, Institute of Arts, The Golden Age of Naples, 9 August-1 November 1981, no. 47.

Brought to you by

Lucy Cox

lcox@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2243

Lot Essay

This is possibly the bozzetto recorded by Francesco Colonna di Stigliano in 1895 in the inventory of the collection of his family ('Inventario dei quadri di Casa Colonna fatto da Luca Giordano', Napoli Nobilissima, V, 1895, p. 30). It relates to a picture of the same subject in the Escorial, Madrid (F. Bologna, loc. cit.). A preparatory drawing for that picture is in the Museo di San Martino, Naples (no. 20881, F. Bologna, op. cit., p. 270).

We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution upon first-hand inspection. Professor Spinosa will include the work in his forthcoming monograph on the artist.

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