The Cabal of Naples was a notorious triumvirate of

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

s in the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

that operated during the early

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period from the late 1610s to the early 1640s. It was led by the Spaniard

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

, who had established himself in Naples after fleeing creditors in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1616, and also consisted of the Neapolitan

Battistello Caracciolo Giovanni Battista Caracciolo (also called Battistello) (1578–1635) was an Italian artist and important Neapolitan follower of Caravaggio. He was a member of the murderous Cabal of Naples, with Belisario Corenzio and Giambattista Caracciolo, w ...

and Greek

Belisario Corenzio Belisario Corenzio ( el, Βελισσάριος Κορένσιος 1558–1646) was a Greek-Italian painter, active in Venice and Naples. He is one of few Greek painters that did not belong to the Cretan Renaissance like his contemporaries of the ...

. Its primary goal was to prevent competition from artists from other parts of Italy, particularly the masters. Its activities often targeted the followers of

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

, but also any artist not native to Naples. It involved the triumvirate in leading the painters of the city to harass, expel, or poison any non-native painter, and only ended with the death of Caracciolo in 1641.

Art commissions in Naples

According to the art historian

Bernardo de Dominici Bernardo de' Dominici or Bernardo De Dominici (13 December 1683 – c. 1759) was an Italian art historian and painter of the late-Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. As a painter he was known for his landscapes, marine vedute and genre scene ...

, no major commission for art in Naples could be executed without the consent of the three painters. Artists who did so would be persecuted or threatened with violence, and often their in-progress works would be destroyed or sabotaged. Many artists were invited to Naples for a commission to decorate the '' Cappella del Tesoro'', the chapel of the

Naples Cathedral The Naples Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Napoli; nap, Viscuvato 'e Napule), or Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, links=no), is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the s ...

. The chapel honours

Saint Januarius Januarius ( ; la, Ianuarius; Neapolitan language, Neapolitan and it, Gennaro), also known as , was Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento, Bishop of Benevento and is a Christian martyrs, martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern ...

and is considered the holiest shrine in Naples. It is known for The Blood Miracle, the reputed liquefaction of the saint's blood, which is stored in a phial and had purportedly been obtained by a woman named Eusebia just after the saint's death. Artists including Annibale Carracci, the

Cavalier d'Arpino Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

, and

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...

all accepted an invitation to work on the chapel. All of them found Naples inhospitable. In 1621, Reni's assistant was so badly wounded that he returned to Rome. Corenzio was arrested as a suspect in the crime, but released because of insufficient evidence against him. Carracci was so maligned that he could not obtain a commission in the city. The artists commissioned for this work were driven away as a result of the cabal's jealousy and resentment at the intrusion of outsiders to work on such an important project. A group from Naples known as the Santafede was hired by the commissioners, but that group's work did not impress the commissioners, who ultimately hired Corenzio. His work was found to be unacceptable by the commissioners, and was removed. The commissioners sent a letter to

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoem ...

in Rome requesting his services. On 23 March 1630, Domenichino sent a reply letter to accept a commission to decorate the ''Cappella del Tesoro'', though he had reservations about accepting the commission, and his wife had attempted to dissuade him from accepting it.

Domenichino

Domenichino completed several frescoes in

San Carlo ai Catinari San Carlo ai Catinari, also called Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari ("Saints Blaise and Charles at the Bowl-Makers") is an early-Baroque style church in Rome, Italy. It is located on Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, 117 just off the corner of Via Arenul ...

by June 1630, and moved to Naples in November. Not long after he arrived, he received a death threat warning him to abandon the commission. He requested protection from the

Viceroy of Naples This is a list of viceroys of the Kingdom of Naples. Following the conquest of Naples by Louis XII of France in 1501, Naples was subject to the rule of the foreign rulers, the Kings of France, Aragon and Spain and the Habsburg Archdukes of Austria ...

, and despite assurances that he would be safe, rarely left his home except to work at the chapel or at the school he had opened. He would often arrive at the chapel for work to find the previous night's work had been rubbed out. He was so tormented by the cabal that in 1634 he fled to

Frascati Frascati () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with ...

, not yet having completed the commission, and became a guest at

Villa Aldobrandini The Villa Aldobrandini is a villa in Frascati, Italy. It is still owned and lived in by the Aldobrandini family, and known as Belvedere for its location overlooking the valley toward the city of Rome. It is the only grand Papal garden not owned ...

, the villa of the

Aldobrandini family The House of Aldobrandini is an Italian noble family originally from Florence, where in the Middle Ages they held the most important municipal offices. Now the Aldobrandini are resident in Rome, with close ties to the Vatican. History Their ...

. The representatives of the Naples Cathedral who had hired him did their utmost to convince Domenichino to return. Upon learning of Domenichino's flight from the city, the viceroy arrested his wife and daughter, who had remained in Naples, and sequestered his property. Domenichino returned to Naples in 1635 to continue his work on the cathedral, but by then no longer had the favour or protection of the viceroy. His wife and daughter were released upon his return. In 1637, he accepted a commission for nine frescoes for the chapel, and in 1640 he received payment for a work about the martyrdom of Saint Januarius. According to journal entries by

Giovanni Battista Passeri Giovanni Battista Passeri (c. 1610 – 22 April 1679) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was a pupil of the painter Domenichino, as the latter worked at Frascati. He painted genre and still life paintings. Life Born in Rome, Pas ...

, Domenichino feared that his meals would be poisoned, or that he would be stabbed. On 3 April 1641, he wrote a will; he died on 15 April after several days of illness. His widow was convinced he had been poisoned, and it was suspected that the cabal was responsible.

References and notes

Bibliography

* ee § "How Ribera's Cabal Painting in Naples".* * * * * *

Art commissions in Naples

Domenichino

See also

References and notes

Bibliography

Further reading