The National Galleries of Ancient Art have completed the restoration of two important paintings from their collections – the Sant’ Onofrio by Battistello Caracciolo (Naples 1578 – 1635) and The tribute of the coin by Luca Giordano (Naples 1634 – 1705) who are exceptionally exhibited at the Galleria Corsini from 18 July to 27 October 2024.
The two restorations were carried out by the Laboratory of the National Galleries of Ancient Art thanks to the proceeds raised from the sale of the Civitas Wine which also on this occasion has renewed its commitment toCivita Association, in partnership with Tenuta Caparzo di Montalcino, in supporting the restoration of particularly significant works of the museum, following the agreement signed in 2019 and in progress until 2025.
Part of the proceeds of the Civitas Wine Sales of the past years have already allowed for the restoration
there Madonna of the Milk by Bartolome Esteban Murillo and to start interventions on a console eighteenth-century Corsini Gallery, while it has already been started the new intervention on the Lucretia of the Guercino School which will end in 2025.
The Saint Onofrio (oil on canvas, 180 x 116 cm.) It is a work created between 1615 and 1618 from Battistello Caraccioloone of the first followers of Caravaggio during his stay in Naples and was also one of the most talented artists among those who experimented with the new techniques introduced by Merisi.
In this canvas the artist has staged the effects of the extreme asceticism of the saint, who took refuge in the desert for more than sixty years, after having repudiated his royal origins. The scene is made even more crude by the dark background and the “Caravaggio-esque” light coming from the back right, which highlights the physical fatigue of Onofrio who leans on his stick and his emaciated and exhausted figure, covered only by leaves and etc.
characterized by a long beard and white hair.
The The recently concluded restoration – directed by Yuri Primarosa and carried out by Laura De Vincenzo and Vega Santodonato – allows for a full reading of the painting and its chromatic values, as well as confirming the centrality of the drawing in Battistello’s technique that emerged from the diagnostic investigations. The discovery of a continuous sign on all four sides at about 10 cm. from the edge of the canvas (incompatible with the beating of the frame of a “room painting”) has also allowed us to substantiate the hypothesis of an ancient provenance of the painting from a church, perhaps as a side altarpiece.
The Tribute of the coin by Luca Giordano (oil on canvas, 131 x 118 cm.), coming from the Corsini collection, It has been in storage outside the Senate since 1940 and was exhibited to the public for the first time at the Gallery on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini in December 2022. It now returns to the Cardinal’s apartments, relocated exactly in the position recorded in the 1750 inventory, after a long intervention of restoration lasted more than a year
directed by Alessandro Cosma and performed by Pilar Grazioli.
The work created by the painter around 1655-1660 was donated to Pope Clement XII Corsini (1730-1740) by Cardinal Alessandro Aldobrandini, perhaps as a thank you for the nomination as cardinal received in 1730. The importance of the painting and its author – much appreciated by the Corsini family – led Cardinal Neri Maria to choose it for the gallery of masterpieces in his apartment, the so-called Cardinal’s Gallery.
The painting depicts the famous theme of the Tribute of the coin and, in particular, the moment when Peter finds in the belly of a fish the money needed to pay the temple tax for him and for Christ (Mt. 17, 24-27).
The intervention of The restoration has finally allowed us to appreciate the rich colours conceived by the paintersuch as the white of Christ’s robe or the blue of the cloak, created using lapis lazuli and enamel – today unfortunately irreversibly altered to grey. It also has brought out the three figures of the apostles on the right and, above all, previously invisible details such as the landscape background and the boat with the sail and the fisherman on the lefta reference to the setting of the episode, but also a reference to Peter’s role as a “fisherman”.
Carlo Franza