Francesco Solimena

With Porta Gallery, Berlin;

With Galerie H.J. Brungs, Berlin, by 1927;

E. Remak, Berlin;

Private collection, Düsseldorf;

With Galerie Wertheim, Berlin;

Anonymous sale, Munich, Weinmüller, 24 June 1965, lot 1452 (as Francesco Solimena);

Where acquired by Caesar (1906–1988) and Ruth Pinnau (1924–2010), Hamburg;

Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 3 December 2014, lot 83 (as circle of Francesco Solimena);

With Dr Arndt Kunsthandel GmbH, Unterleinleiter, by 2015;

Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 19 November 2016, lot 1111 (as Francesco Solimena);

Where acquired by the present owner.

Der Kunstwanderer, August 1927, pp. 500 and 509, reproduced;

N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento. Dal Barocco al Rococo, Naples 1986, vol. I, p. 107, under no. 25;

N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento. Dal Barocco al Rococo, Naples 1993, vol. I, p. 107, under no. 25;

N. Spinosa in Settecento Napoletano: Sulle ali dell’aquila imperiale 1707–1734, W. Prohaska and N. Spinosa (eds), exh. cat., Vienna and Naples 1993–94, p. 216 (as a workshop copy, on the basis of a photograph at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London);

N. Spinosa, Francesco Solimena (1657–1747) e le Arti a Napoli, Naples 2018, vol. I, pp. 388–89, no. 159b, reproduced.

Dated by Prof. Nicola Spinosa to circa 1710, this monumental canvas was only recently identified as an autograph work by Francesco Solimena after it was cleaned prior to its sale in 2016 (see Provenance). It bears close stylistic associations to The Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin (of slightly larger dimensions, dated circa 1708, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland) and The Virgin consigning the banner of the Holy Sepulchre to Saint Bonaventura (dated 1710, Cattedrale di San Paolo, Aversa).¹ Spinosa highlights the rarity of this subject, not to be confused with The Nativity, treated by the artist in only two instances: this work and another near identical version, of slightly larger dimensions, last recorded with Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, in 1994.² A studio repetition of this subject, of lesser quality, square format and reduced dimensions is in the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton.³ Finally, a preparatory drawing for this subject in a private collection, with differences in the arrangement of the figures, was first attributed to the artist and associated with the present composition by Enirco De Nicola in 2014.⁴

¹ Spinosa 2018, vol. I, pp. 369 and 402, nos 147 and 168; https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.63; https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1500025997

² Spinosa 1993, vol. I, p. 107, no. 25, reproduced in colour pl. 2; http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/entry/work/65733/Solimena%20Francesco%2C%20Nativit%C3%A0%20di%20Ges%C3%B9%20e%20angeli

³ Inv. no. 1960.14; oil on canvas; 102 x 102 cm.; http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/entry/work/66451/Solimena%20Francesco%2C%20Nativit%C3%A0%20di%20Ges%C3%B9%20e%20angeli

⁴ E. De Nicola in L'idea del Barocco a Napoli. 'Macchie' e disegni di Luca Giordano, Francesco Solimena e seguaci (1670–1790), V. Farina and E. De Nicola (eds), exh. cat., Cava de' Tirreni 2014, pp. 108–11, no. 26, reproduced in colour.