Francesco Ciccio Solimena

Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino 1657-1747 Barra) The Personification of Charity oil on canvas 19¼ x 30¼ in. (48.8 x 76.8 cm.) Almost certainly acquired by Sir Hugh Cholmley, 4th Bt. (1632-1688), and by descent at Whitby, through his only daughter Mary (1667 - 1748), wife of Nathaniel Cholmley, whose son Hugh Cholmley married Catherine Wentworth, heiress to the Howsham estate, in 1741, thence by descent. The contents of Howsham Hall were sold in 1948, and the pictures were subsequently on loan (see below). Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 17 December 1999, lot 61 (£34,500), to the present owner. PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION Henrietta Strickland, Catalogue of the Pictures at Howsham, 1852, mss., recorded on the staircase. A. Oswald,'Howsham Hall - II', Country Life, LXXVII, 1935, pp. 221-223. Los Pinceles de la Historia. El Origen del Reino de la Nueva España, 1680-1750, Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, 1999, pp. 87-90. York, City Art Gallery, circa 1948. Whitby Museum. Mexico City, Castle of Chapultepec, 1954, an exhibition devoted solely to this series of eight paintings. Mexico City, the British Embassy, on loan 1954-1999. Professor Nicola Spinosa confirmed the attribution and identified this picture as a bozzetto for one of Solimena's Theological Virtues painted in fresco between the windows in the Church of Santa Maria di Donnalbina, Naples. This decoration, and that of the cupola depicting Paradise and the Vision of Saint Benedict with its pendentives representing the Evangelists, can be dated to the last five years of the seventeenth century. For the crossing, Solimena painted six large canvasses depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin. Another bozzetto relating to this series of the Virtues depicts Faith with a similar niche behind her (The Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California; see N. Spinosa, La pittura Napoletana del '600, Milan, 1984, fig. 752). Two more, depicting Hope and Humility (?) (not showing the niche behind the Virtues) were sold at Christie's, London, 15 April 1983, lot 13.

LOT 49 PROPERTY FROM OF A FAMILY COLLECTION FRANCESCO SOLIMENA CANALE DI SERINO 1657 - 1747 BARRA MINERVA WITH CHRONOS AND HISTORY: A STUDY FOR AN ALLEGORY OF THEREIGN OF THE HAPSBURGS IN NAPLES oil on canvas, unframed 60,000—80,000 USD 17 3/4 by 24 5/8 in.; 45.1 by 62.5 cm. oil on canvas, unframed We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming thispainting to be an autograph work by Solimena, based on aphotograph. He dates it to circa 1705. While there are several known versions of this composition,Spinosa believes the present one is the closest to the paintingconsidered to be the prime version. That painting, which wasoffered for sale at Sotheby's, New York, 23 May 2001, lot 25 and isnow in a private collection, Rome, is oil on copper (41.9 by 59.1cm.) and has a portrait believed to depict King Carlos II of Spainin the medallion.1 It is thought to represent anAllegory of the Reign of the Hapsburgs in Naples and was painted inthe last years of Spanish Hapsburg rule in Naples. The compositiondepicts Minerva seated upon a lion with Chronos (Father Time)seated at her feet. An open book rests upon his shoulders whereHistory records the res gestae of the ruler depicted in themedallion held aloft by putti. In the background stands the CastelNuovo, Naples, apparently under siege. Other variants of thecomposition depict different rulers such as Philippe d'Anjou, LouisXIV's candidate for the Spanish throne2 and possiblyprince Eugene of Savoy.3 The medallion in the presentwork is empty and Spinosa believes that this painting may haveserved as a modello di base which the artist could present to apotential client and which would then be filled in with theappropriate portrait of the personage to be glorified. 1. See W. Prohaska, in Settecento Napoletano, Sulle alidell'Aquila imperiale 1707-1734, exhibition catalogue, Vienna andNaples 1993-94, cat. no. 33.2. See F. Bologna, "La dimensione europea della cultura artisticanapoletana nel XVIII secolo," Arti e civilita del Settecento aNapoli, p. 43, passim.3. See A. Emiliani, La Pinacoteca di Bologna, 1967, p. 392,reproduced fig. 17. We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for confirming thispainting to be an autograph work by Solimena, based on aphotograph. He dates it to circa 1705. While there are several known versions of this composition,Spinosa believes the present one is the closest to the paintingconsidered to be the prime version. That painting, which wasoffered for sale at Sotheby's, New York, 23 May 2001, lot 25 and isnow in a private collection, Rome, is oil on copper (41.9 by 59.1cm.) and has a portrait believed to depict King Carlos II of Spainin the medallion.1 It is thought to represent anAllegory of the Reign of the Hapsburgs in Naples and was painted inthe last years of Spanish Hapsburg rule in Naples. The compositiondepicts Minerva seated upon a lion with Chronos (Father Time)seated at her feet. An open book rests upon his shoulders whereHistory records the res gestae of the ruler depicted in themedallion held aloft by putti. In the background stands the CastelNuovo, Naples, apparently under siege. Other variants of thecomposition depict different rulers such as Philippe d'Anjou, LouisXIV's candidate for the Spanish throne2 and possiblyprince Eugene of Savoy.3 The medallion in the presentwork is empty and Spinosa believes that this painting may haveserved as a modello di base which the artist could present to apotential client and which would then be filled in with theappropriate portrait of the personage to be glorified. 1. See W. Prohaska, in Settecento Napoletano, Sulle alidell'Aquila imperiale 1707-1734, exhibition catalogue, Vienna andNaples 1993-94, cat. no. 33.2. See F. Bologna, "La dimensione europea della cultura artisticanapoletana nel XVIII secolo," Arti e civilita del Settecento aNapoli, p. 43, passim.3. See A. Emiliani, La Pinacoteca di Bologna, 1967, p. 392,reproduced fig. 17.

Lot Description Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino 1657-1747 Barra) Portrait of a gentleman oil on canvas 20 x 18¼ in. (50.8 x 46.3 cm.) Pre-Lot Text PROPERTY OF THE COLUMBUS MUSEUM OF ART, OHIO, SOLD TO BENEFITITS ACQUISITION FUND Provenance with Agnew's, London, where purchased by Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, 1967. Literature B. Frederickson and F. Zeri, Cenus of Pre-Nineteenth CenturyItalian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge, 1972,pp. 190, 529, 576. Exhibited London, Agnew's, 2-27 May 1966.

LOT 557 FRANCESCO SOLIMENA CANALE DI SERINO 1657 - 1747 BARRA CHRIST AT THE HOUSE OF SIMON THE PHARISEE Black chalk, within black chalk framing lines 5,000—7,000 USD measurements note 201 by 128 mm; 8 by 5 1/8 in Sale, London, Christie's, 27 November 1973, lot 275,reproduced The present study is related, with differences, to a painting bySolimena of the same subject (fig. 1), datable on stylistic groundsto the 1720s.1 When the drawing first appeared on theLondon art market in 1973, it was wrongly believed to representChrist at the feast of Cana, and associated with one of the seriesof six canvases, now destroyed, of New Testament miracles whichwere formerly in the Abbey of Montecassino. 1. Private Collection; sold, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 2006, lot229, reproduced

Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino 1657-1747 Barra) Modesty - a bozzetto oil on canvas, unlined 24¾ x 29 5/8 in (62.9 x 75.3 cm.) Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 24 May 1985, lot133. This bozzetto is for one of the spandrels in the church of SS.Apostoli in Naples. The subject, traditionally identified as theMadonna untying her girdle, is in fact a personification ofModesty, one of the seven heavenly virtues that protect againsttemptation from the seven deadly sins. Modesty is part of Humilityand is described by Ripa as 'una giovinetta, che tenga nella destramano uno scettro, in cima del quale vi sia un'occhio, vestasi dibianco, & cingasi con una cinta d'oro, stia con il capo chino,senza ciuffo, & sen'altro ornamento di testa' (C. Ripa,Iconologia, ed. P. Buscaroli, Milan, 2002, pp. 291-2).