Nicola Malinconico - Virgin of Humility

Lot description

NICOLA MALINCONICO Naples 1663 - c. 1727 Virgin of Humility. H. 1710 Oil on canvas Measurements 74 x 54.5 cm This unprecedented Virgin of Humility conceived for private devotion, a hypothesis reinforced by the square and narrow format of the canvas takes us to the more refined circle of artists from the studio of Luca Giordano at the end of the 17th century. In fact, it belongs to Nicola Malinconico, a figure that the most current studies have classified among Giordano's most gifted students. Son of the painter Andrea Malinconico, who introduced him to the art of painting like his older brother Oronzo, Nicola was first a disciple of Andrea Belvedere and later of Luca Giordano in the mid-1680s. And it was thanks to Through the mediation of the latter, Malinconico had the opportunity to debut in 1690 in the abbey church of Montecassino, inheriting, after Giordano's trip to Spain in 1692, the direction of the construction work of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo (1693-1694). . The style of this Madonna and Child differs from the versions of other colleagues in Giordano's studio (such as Andrea Miglionico and Giuseppe Simonelli), revealing a profound harmony with Malinconico's full-grown works. And to realize this, it is enough to stop at the prominence in a Solimeneque key of the anatomies, when the play of chiaroscuro or, again, the bituminous shadows that stain the eyelids and eyes become more evident. A resource, the latter, recurring in the artist's repertoire and which, in addition, is elaborated to dramatize the look and give the adequate volume in the eye sockets, nose and forehead. The closest version that reinforces the hypothesis attributable to Malinconico is the Virgin with Child in the Montecassino art gallery, a Virgin with Child (oil on canvas, 72 x 60 cm) dating from 1710 is preserved. Mauro Vincenzo Fonatana November 22, 2022 Bibliography: - Mauro Vincenzo Fontana., La brigata giordanesca nelle stanze di San Benedetto. Per la pittura napoletana a Montecassino, in “Bollettino d'Arte”, XLIII, 2020, pp. 79-100. - Mauro Vincenzo Fontana., Traiettorie di critica giordanesca. His due tele ad Altamura, in “Altamura. Bollettino dell'ABMC”, 61, 2021, pp. 103-113. - Mauro Vincenzo Fontana., Nicola Malinconico, voce biografica, in Splendori del barocco defilato. Arte in Basilicata e ai suoi confini da Luca Giordano al Settecento, catalogo della mostra (Matera, Potenza, Firenze 2009-2010), curated by E. Acanfora, Firenze 2009, pp. 250-251.