Lot 23: GIOVAN FRANCESCO DE ROSA, CALLED PACECCO DE ROSA

GIOVAN FRANCESCO DE ROSA, CALLED PACECCO DE ROSA NAPLES 1607 - 1656 SAINT BARBARA oil on canvas 39 1/2 by 28 7/8 in.; 100.3 by 73.3 cm.

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. Pacecco 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 St. Barbara. Pacecco's masterpiece The Massacre of the Innocents in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with its bright palette, and attention to detail, also strongly displays the influence of his master's work from the 1630's. Pacecco was highly popular in his own lifetime, and he received both secular, and ecclesiastical commissions, including his Annunciation in San Gregorio Armeno, Naples, and his Deposition in Nunziatella, Naples.

We are grateful to Dr. Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs. He will include this painting in the first volume of his publication on Neapolitan 17th Century painting, currently in preparation.