1657 -1747 · Neapolitan Baroque, large decoration and court portrait

Shadow architectures, ascending crowds, bursts of light and authority of portraiture made Francesco Solimena the dominant master of Neapolitan painting around 1700.

Francesco Solimena was born in 1657 in Canale di Serino, near Avellino. He learned painting from his father Angelo before settling in Naples in the 1670s. The city then had a powerful visual culture, marked by the naturalism of Ribera, the color and movement of Luca Giordano as well as the large constructions of Pietro da Cortona. Solimena assimilates these legacies and builds a personal language, more architectural and darker. His figures group together in complex pyramids or diagonals; Deep shadow passages bring out faces, draperies and gestures under concentrated light. Churches and religious orders entrust him with frescoes, ceilings and altarpieces. The Birth of the Virgin, painted around 1690, shows how it transforms an interior into a monumental scene where the crowd is organized around a bright foyer. His fame quickly spread beyond Naples. Popes, princes, Habsburgs and Bourbons commissioned allegories, dynastic stories and portraits. Charles VI, sovereigns and nobles, were represented with controlled pomp: armor, mantle and column affirmed rank while the face retained a firm presence. Solimena also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop also works for Spain and Central Europe. His immense workshop becomes a real informal academy. Francesco de Mura, Corrado Giaquinto, Sebastiano Conca and many italian or foreign painters learn drawing, composition and decor skills. Solimena is also a prolific architect, poet and designer. His studies with pen or wash reveal a freer invention than the large completed paintings. Died in Barra in 1747, he dominated nearly seventy years of southern painting and prepared the transition between late Baroque and Neapolitan Rococo. The "Francesco Solimena" selection notably compares Diego d'Aragona Pignatelli and The Virgin and Child in Throne with Saints. His reading favors light.

Solimena constructs light like architecture: the shadow brings the crowd together, then a brilliance reveals the gesture, the face or the symbol that controls the story.