Oil paint on canvas depicting St. Francis of Paola in prayer, Francesco Fracanzano (Monopoli ...

Oil paint on canvas depicting St. Francis of Paola in prayer, Francesco Fracanzano (Monopoli, July 9, 1612 - Naples, 1656). 99X76 Cm. Opera-free frame.
"The painting is Allegedly by the painter who worked in Naples in the seventeenth century, Francis Fracanzano (Monopoli, July 9, 1612 - Naples, 1656) and represents San Francesco di Paola in prayer, with the typical iconographic attributes of the saint made by habit, by the book (in which reads in part "Charitas") with above a skull, located at the bottom and laterally with respect to the figure. the painting has the typical characteristics attributable to Fracanzano such as material density full and lumpy, the color of the skin and hands that turns into a reddish, which shows a matrix of Caravaggesque naturalism which partly makes its own the teachings of the Ribera school but to which he adds the tonal values ​​and the design of Guercino, the Carracci as well as the same Kidneys. the work is attributable to the period the experience of pictorial Fracanzano more contiguous example of Ribera. very similar work is exhibited at the Museum Dubrovinik (Croatia), with some differences (shown in parallel in the pr free card with the use of the image for comparison) regarding the position of the book, placed vertically and with squadernate pages, the skull in the background, the composition which seems to have now become more lumpy, accentuating the structure riberesca, the kneeling figure of the saint is seen in its entirety. For the work taken in comparison, all referring to the same author, a need for purely philological, we report a detailed study has shown that "the second mid seventeenth century, it should be reported on San Francesco di Paola of Dubrovnik, where the resumption of ribereschi characters in the face subsides in the drafting of the soft and ample folds of his habit, covering the entire composition and allow for just such a combination is valid comparison with works by Francesco Fracanzano, such as the San Benedetto di San Gregorio Armeno and St. Paul the hermit church of St. Onofrio of Old Naples, with both the mature production of Angelo Solimena and the young son Francis, particularly with regard to the resumption of the ways of Lanfranco "(in the Footsteps of Neapolitan painting in Croatia seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Mario Alberto Pavone - University of Palermo). But it should be emphasized that many of the works refer to figures of saints, past the antiques market and contained in private and museum collections, made by Francesco Fracanzano, have identical expressive setting and similar pictorial and compositional quality, thus confirming the validity of the allocation to the same painter. The framework preserves the original frame of the seventeenth century; It is a very old reintelatura the mid-nineteenth century was maintained that being in good condition was not replaced (neither raised for other purposes). "We thank the Dott.Avv. Francesco Amato for the authoritative opinion.