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Lot Essay
Hailing from Turin, where he began his training under the court painter Esprit Grandjean, Beinaschi had settled in Rome by 1652. He first found employ working for the engraver Pietro del Pò, for whom he made copies after Annibale Carracci's frescoes in the Galleria Farnese and Giovanni Lanfranco's work in San Andrea della Valle and San Carlo Catinari. The latter, in particular, was to have a profound influence on Beinaschi's style, and their works are often so close as to confuse scholars. In 1664, Beinaschi moved to Naples to work primarily in fresco on a number of decorative cycles for churches within the city, including San Nicola alla Dogana (1664; now destroyed); Santa Maria degli Angeli (1672-3); Santa Maria di Loreto; the Ges Nuovo and the Santa Maria la Nova (all 1670s).
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Beinaschi on the basis of first-hand inspection, and dating it to circa 1660, during Beinaschi's stay in Rome. Prof. Spinosa compares it to a Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus in the Museo Diocesano in Salerno, and to an Incredulity of Saint Thomas in a private Italian collection. Already Beinaschi appears to surpass Lanfranco in the agitated drama of his figures, and it is easy to see how he fell under the influence of Mattia Preti in the second part of the 1670s.
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Beinaschi on the basis of first-hand inspection, and dating it to circa 1660, during Beinaschi's stay in Rome. Prof. Spinosa compares it to a Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus in the Museo Diocesano in Salerno, and to an Incredulity of Saint Thomas in a private Italian collection. Already Beinaschi appears to surpass Lanfranco in the agitated drama of his figures, and it is easy to see how he fell under the influence of Mattia Preti in the second part of the 1670s.