Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the

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 ...

era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.

Biography

Francesco Solimena - Diana and Endymion - Google Art Project

Francesco Solimena - the Royal Hunt of Dido and Aeneas - Google Art Project

Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di

Serino Serino is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. Famous for its very clean water source, Serino is from Naples, from Salerno, from Avellino and from Rome. Serino is known for its production of chestnuts ...

in the province of Avellino. He received early training from his father, Angelo Solimena, with whom he executed a ''Paradise'' for the cathedral of Nocera (a place where he spent a big part of his life) and a ''Vision of St. Cyril of Alexandria'' for the church of San Domenico at Solofra. He settled in

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 ...

in 1674, where he worked in the studio of

Francesco di Maria Francesco di Maria (1623–1690) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. He was a pupil of the painter Domenichino. Maria was an early mentor of Francesco Solimena, Giacomo del Pò, and Paolo de Matteis Paolo de ...

.Pavone, Mario Alberto (2003, January 1). "Solimena family". Grove Art Online. He was patronized early on, and encouraged to become an artist by Cardinal Vincenzo Orsini (later

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII ( la, Benedictus XIII; it, Benedetto XIII; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May ...

). By the 1680s, he had independent fresco commissions, and his active studio came to dominate Neapolitan painting from the 1690s through the first four decades of the 18th century. He modeled his art—for he was a highly conventional painter—after the Roman Baroque masters,

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Earl ...

and Giovanni Lanfranco, and

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...

, whose technique of warm brownish shadowing Solimena emulated. Solimena painted many frescoes in Naples, altarpieces, celebrations of weddings and courtly occasions, mythological subjects, characteristically chosen for their theatrical drama, and portraits. His settings are suggested with a few details—steps, archways, balustrades, columns—concentrating attention on figures and their draperies, caught in pools and shafts of light. Art historians take pleasure in identifying the models he imitated or adapted in his compositions. His numerous preparatory drawings often mix media, combining

pen and ink A pen is a common writing tool, writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a Nib (pen), nib or in a sm ...

, chalk, and watercolor washes. A typical example of the elaborately constructed allegorical "machines" of his early mature style, fully employing his mastery of

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

, is the ''Allegory of Rule'' (1690) from the Stroganoff collection, which has come to the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Francesco Solimena amassed a fortune and lived in sumptuous style founded on his success. He died at

Barra Barra (; gd, Barraigh or ; sco, Barra) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by a short causeway. The island is name ...

, near Naples, in 1747 at the age of 89. As Solimena had intended it, his nephew

Orazio Orazio is a male given name of Italian origin, derived from the Latin name ( ''nomen'') Horatius, from the Roman gens (clan) Horatia. People so named include: *Orazio Alfani (c. 1510–1583), Italian painter * Orazio Antinori (1811–1882), Ita ...

became his pupil and successor as a painter.

Career

His large, efficiently structured atelier became a virtual

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, at the heart of cultural life in Naples. Among his many pupils were

Giuseppe Bonito Giuseppe Bonito (11 January 1707 – 9 May 1789) was a Neapolitan painter of the Rococo period. Giuseppe Bonito is known for genre depictions on canvas. Many of Gaspare Traversi's paintings had previously been attributed to Bonito. Biograph ...

(1707–89),

Domenico Antonio Vaccaro Domenico Antonio Vaccaro (June 3, 1678 – June 13, 1745) was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect. He created many important sculptural and architectural projects in Naples. His later works are executed in an individualistic Rococo s ...

(1678-1745), Nicola Maria Rossi, Lorenzo De Caro, Jacopo Cestaro, Andrea dell'Asta, Paolo De Majo,

Ludovico De Majo Ludovico () is an Italian masculine given name. It is sometimes spelled Lodovico. The feminine equivalent is Ludovica. Persons with the name Ludovico Given name * Ludovico D'Aragona (1876–1961), Italian socialist politician * Ludovico Ario ...

, Pietro Capelli,

Domenico Mondo Domenico Mondo (1734 in Capodrise near Caserta – 1806 in Naples) was an Italian painter, active in both a late Baroque and Neoclassical styles. Biography He studied under Francesco Solimena. Mondo became director of the Neapolitan R ...

Onofrio Avellino Onofrio Avellino (c. 1674 – 17 April 1741) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography Born in Naples, Giulio died in Ferrara or Rome, where he painted for the last twenty years of his life. He initially trained under Luca Giordano ...

Scipione Cappella Scipione Cappella (active 1743) was an Italian historical painter. He was initially trained with his uncle, Domenico Viola, but then became a pupil of Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific It ...

Giovanni della Camera Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

Francesco Campora Francesco Campora ( Rivarolo, 16 January 1693 – Genoa, 19 December 1763) was an Italian painter of the late- Baroque. Biography He initially trained in Genoa, under Giuseppe Palmieri, then under Domenico Parodi, but moved to Naples by the age o ...

, Alessandro Guglielmi, Leonardo Oliviero, Salvatore Olivieri, Salvatore Pace, Romualdo Polverino,

Paolo Gamba Paolo Gamba (29 October 1712 – 26 December 1782) was an Italians, Italian painter of the late Baroque period, active in the region of Molise. Biography He was born to poor family in Ripabottoni in the province of Campobasso, region of Molise. H ...

Bernardino Fera Bernardino is a name of Italian, Hispanic, or Portuguese origin, which can refer to: Given name *Bernardino Baldi (1533–1617), Italian mathematician and writer *Bernardino Bertolotti (born 1547), Italian composer and instrumentalist *Bernardi ...

, Evangelista Schiano, Gaspare Traversi,

Francesco Narici Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

, Alessio D'Elia, Santolo Cirillo, Michele Foschini, Tommaso Martini, Alfonso Di Spigna,

Michelangelo Schilles Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

, Giovanni Battista Vela, Ferrante Amendola, Eugenio Vegliante, Romualdo Formosa, and most notably

Corrado Giaquinto Corrado Giaquinto (8 February 1703 – 18 April 1766) was an Italian Rococo painter. Early training and move to Rome He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, (c1667–1725), escaping the rel ...

Francesco De Mura Francesco de Mura (21 April 1696 – 19 August 1782) was an Italian painter of the late- Baroque period, active mainly in Naples and Turin. His late work reflects the style of neoclassicism. Life Francesco de Mura, also referred to as ''Fran ...

and

Sebastiano Conca Sebastiano Conca (8 January 1680 – 1 September 1764) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born at Gaeta, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, and apprenticed in Naples under Francesco Solimena. In 1706, along with his brother Giovanni, who ...

. The Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay spent three years in Solimena's studio. File:Solimena Portrait de femme (2004 1 50).jpg, Portrait of a woman Image:SOLIMENA.jpg, Study for the fresco cycle of the Sacristy of a churchFor sacristy of

San Paolo Maggiore San Paolo Maggiore is a basilica church in Naples, southern Italy, and the burial place of Gaetano Thiene, known as Saint Cajetan, founder of the Order of Clerics Regular (or Theatines). It is located on Piazza Gaetano, about 1-2 blocks north of V ...

', Whitfield Fine Art File:Francesco Solimena - Venus at the Forge of Vulcan, 1704.jpg, ''Venus at the Forge of Vulcan'', 1704 File:Francesco Solimena - Madonna and Child - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Madonna and Child'' File:Francesco Solimena (cópia) - Noli me tangere.jpg, ''Noli me tangere'' File:Solimena-assomption-Montargis.jpg, ''The Assumption '' File:Francesco Solimena - The Annunciation - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Annunciation'' File:Songe de Jacob, Solimena (1).jpg, ''Jacob's Dream'' Francesco Solimena - The Abduction of Orithyia - Walters 371695

Francesco Solimena - The Abduction of Orithyia - Walters 371695

References

External links

*
Francesco Solimena on-line

Francesco Solimena
Scuola Media F. Solimena
Canale di Serino. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solimena, Francesco 1657 births 1747 deaths People from the Province of Avellino 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Naples Italian Baroque painters Rococo architects 18th-century Italian male artists