Giovan Francesco de Rosa, called Pacecco de Rosa Naples 1607 - 1656

D. de Sarno Prignano, Capolavori in Proscenio Dipinti del Cinque, Sei e Settecento, Faenza 2006, pp. 123-124, 133, note 10, reproduced p. 127, fig. 15.

We are grateful to Dr. Riccardo Lattuada for confirming that this is an  autograph work by Pacecco de Rosa.  Pacecco de Rosa worked in the circle of Massimo Stanzione and the figures in the present work clearly reveal his master's influence.

Pacecco de Rosa was the son of the painter Tommaso de Rosa and trained with his stepfather, the Caravaggesque painter Filippo Vitale, with whom he was associated until Vitale's death in 1650.  Pacceco continued his studies under Massimo Stanzione, whose classical style was of tremendous importance to the development of his art.    He was Stanzione's most talented pupil and in this work we see the strong influence of his master in the treatment of the figures and the handling of the composition.  Pacecco's masterpiece The Massacre of the Innocents in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with its bright palette, and attention to detail, also strongly betrays the influence of his master's work from the 1630s.  Pacecco's elegant secular paintings were highly valued by the nobility and he also received several important ecclesiastical commissions including his Annunciation in San Gregorio Armeno, Naples and his Deposition in Nunziatella, Naples .