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Lot Essay
The present picture, apparently hitherto unrecorded, has been confirmed as an autograph work by Paolo de Matteis on the basis of photographs by Professor Riccardo Lattuada and Dr. Giuseppe Napoletano, both of whom intend to include it in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist. In their opinion the present work is datable circa 1690-1700, when Paolo de Matteis tried to combine his Roman background with the style of his Neapolitan master, Luca Giordano.
According with his eighteenth century biographer, Bernardo de Dominici, de Matteis - born in Piano del Cilento (in the Province of Salerno) - was first an apprentice in Rome with Gian Maria Morandi, and then moved to Naples circa 1683, where he became the chief assistant to Luca Giordano who had been called back to Naples by the Spanish Viceroy, the Marquis of Carpio. However, de Matteis did not forget his Roman influences, as is evident from the present canvas: although the composition recalls Giordano's mature oeuvre before his departure for Spain (1692) with strong contrasts of light still typical of the Neapolitan Seicento baroque painting, there is also a monumentality given to the scale of the figures, mainly the angel, and the distillation of the image to just three figures speaks of de Matteis' attention to Roman classicism. As such this picture compares to the Allegory of Goodness and the Allegory of Meekness in the Certosa di San Martino, Naples, painted in 1699 (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento dal Barocco al Rococò, Naples, 1986, p. 129, n. 110 and p. 250, figs. 130-131), and the Salmacis and Hermaphroditus sold at Christie's, Bologna, Villa Albergati, 8-9 June 1992, lot 752, a work datable circa 1695-1700.
After Giordano's departure for Spain, de Matteis competed with Francesco Solimena for the domination of the art scene in Naples, and he kept this position even after the return of his master from Spain in 1702. The present work shows de Matteis' ability to master religious subjects with a cheerful attitude, here shown by the serene expression of the angel and the firm delicacy with which he stops Abraham's hand.
The present picture's composition is echoed in a painting of the Sacrifice of Isaac by one of de Matteis' best pupils, Giovan Battista Lama, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (cf. N. Spinosa, op. cit., p. 139, n. 151 and p. 273, fig. 173).
According with his eighteenth century biographer, Bernardo de Dominici, de Matteis - born in Piano del Cilento (in the Province of Salerno) - was first an apprentice in Rome with Gian Maria Morandi, and then moved to Naples circa 1683, where he became the chief assistant to Luca Giordano who had been called back to Naples by the Spanish Viceroy, the Marquis of Carpio. However, de Matteis did not forget his Roman influences, as is evident from the present canvas: although the composition recalls Giordano's mature oeuvre before his departure for Spain (1692) with strong contrasts of light still typical of the Neapolitan Seicento baroque painting, there is also a monumentality given to the scale of the figures, mainly the angel, and the distillation of the image to just three figures speaks of de Matteis' attention to Roman classicism. As such this picture compares to the Allegory of Goodness and the Allegory of Meekness in the Certosa di San Martino, Naples, painted in 1699 (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento dal Barocco al Rococò, Naples, 1986, p. 129, n. 110 and p. 250, figs. 130-131), and the Salmacis and Hermaphroditus sold at Christie's, Bologna, Villa Albergati, 8-9 June 1992, lot 752, a work datable circa 1695-1700.
After Giordano's departure for Spain, de Matteis competed with Francesco Solimena for the domination of the art scene in Naples, and he kept this position even after the return of his master from Spain in 1702. The present work shows de Matteis' ability to master religious subjects with a cheerful attitude, here shown by the serene expression of the angel and the firm delicacy with which he stops Abraham's hand.
The present picture's composition is echoed in a painting of the Sacrifice of Isaac by one of de Matteis' best pupils, Giovan Battista Lama, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (cf. N. Spinosa, op. cit., p. 139, n. 151 and p. 273, fig. 173).