Francesco Solimena

With Piero Corsini, New York;
Frederick Mont, New York;
Acquired from the above in October 1954 by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (1909-1988);
His deceased sale ("The Estate of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr."), New York, Sotheby's, 1 June 1989, lot 80;
Acquired by the present owner in April 1999.

New York, Finch College Museum of Art, Neapolitan Masters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 31 October - 15 December 1962, no. 37;
Norfolk, Virginia, The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.,1967-68, no. 50, p. 55, reproduced;
Norfolk, Virginia, The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, October 1973, on loan;
Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections, 7 December 1984 - 3 February 1985, pp. 180-181, no. 69, as 'Attributed to Francesco Solimena';
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Il Gran Teatro del Mondo. L'Anima e il Volto del Settecento, 13 November 2003 - 12 April 2004, p. 92, cat. no. 1.8,  reproduced in colour.

R. Manning, in Neapolitan Masters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, exhibition catalogue, New York, Finch College Museum of Art, 31 October - 15 December 1962, n.p., cat. no. 37, reproduced, as Francesco Solimena;
J.T. Spike, Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections, exhibition catalogue, Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 7 December 1984 - 3 February 1985, p. 180-1, cat. no. 69, reproduced, as 'Attributed to Francesco Solimena' and proposing an attribution to Giuseppe Bonito;
N. Spinosa, Pittura Napoletana del Settecento, dal Barocco al Rococo, vol. I, Naples 1986, p. 115, cat. no. 51, reproduced p. 209, fig. 57 (as Francesco Solimena);
M.A. Pavone, in J. Turner ed., The Dictionary of Art, vol. 29, London 1996, p. 41;
N. Spinosa in F. Caroli, Il Gran Teatro del Mondo. L'Anima e il Volto del Settecento, Milan 2003, p. 92, cat. no. 1.8,  reproduced in colour.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a strong older lining and stretcher, with wooden strips protecting the tacking edges. The varnish is probably synthetic leaving the background only dimly visible. These areas seem fairly thin but the head is fine and strong as is the figure generally. There is no accidental damage at all, and scarcely any retouching; just a few touches reinforcing the curl of the blue coat and the dark mouldings around the base of the column, with a touch or two around the outer silhouette of the wig. The magnificent brocade of the waistcoat has a few small retouches and the darker pigment of leaves and some other details has been worn thin. However the figure generally is in good condition. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This magnificent portrait by Francesco Solimena was considered by Spinosa (see Literature) to date from the artist's mature period, that is to 1730-32 or shortly afterwards.

After Luca Giordano's death in 1705 Solimena became the most sought-after artist in Naples, particularly while the city was under Austrian Habsburg rule (1717-1735); indeed almost half the paintings included in the 1993-94 exhibition Settecento napoletano. Sulle ali dell'aquila imperiale 1707-1734 were Solimena's.¹  As the biographer Bernardo De Dominici points out, Solimena's pictorial style changes dramatically after 1690, assuming greater naturalism and classicism, perhaps inspired by the works of Carlo Maratta (which Solimena would have been able to study at first hand during a brief trip to Rome in 1700). Through the Habsburgs Solimena received numerous commissions from all over Europe, particularly from Austria and Germany, and most of his portraits date from after 1730. Although the sitter in this portrait remains unidentified, Solimena's sharp perception of character, the elegance and refinement of the figure's costume, and the richly decorative setting in which he finds himself, all serve to emphasise the sitter's rank and noble origin.

This painting once belonged to the automobile heir and art collector Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (1909-1988), and was sold directly from his estate in the year following his death (see provenance below). Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., was born in Oelwein, Iowa, and grew up on Long Island. His father, the successful automobile designer and founder of the Chrysler Corporation (for which the famous Chrysler building in Manhattan was built in 1928-30), had set him an example by amassing a fine collection of works of art. Chrysler, Jr., apparently regularly recalled his father's words to him as a boy: "Son, they are yours to enjoy only for a brief period of time. But remember that fundamentally they and all things like them must belong to everyone, and the best of them will become public property in museums throughout the country." His first purchase as a fourteen-year-old student was a small watercolour of a nude by Renoir, bought with the $350 birthday money his father had given him (it was later destroyed by his housemaster at school as its subject – a mother nursing a child – was deemed unsuitable for a school dormitory). Over more than half a century Chrysler, Jr., went on to put together a fine collection of Old Masters, modern French and American paintings, sculpture, glass and furniture. Following the sale of the Chrysler Building in 1956, he retired from business and concentrated on the arts, founding the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1958 to house his works of art. The collection soon outgrew its home, however, and Chrysler, Jr., sought to find a new location. In 1971 he decided upon the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, which had been founded in 1939, and presented his art collection to the city of Norfolk, Virginia, from which his wife Jean Outland came. Chrysler, Jr., served as director of the institution from 1971 to 1976, chaired the Board of Trustees from 1976 to 1984, and was name chairman emeritus in 1984. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., died on 17 September 1988 after a long battle against cancer.

1. Vienna, Kunstforum der Bank Austria, 10 December 1993 – 20 February 1994; & Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, 19 March – 24 July 1994.