(Naples 1696-1782) The Madanna and the Child in the glory surronded by saints Peter and Matthew, pen and brown ink, grey und brown wash, over traces of black chalk, on laid paper, 26,5 x 16,8 cm, browned, somewhat stained, damaged at upper margin (torn), mounted, framed, (Sch)

Francesco de Mura (1696-1782) was the most significant painter of wall decorations in Naples in mid-18th century. He was the favorite pupil of Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) and became the most trusted collaborator of him in several projects. In the course of his long and successful career de Mura developed the monumental Baroque style of Solimena further and painted airy and more colourful compositions which corresponded with the contemporary Rococo taste of his time.
While de Mura’s drawings reflect the style of his Neapolitan contemporaries Solimena and Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764), his choice of technical means and their application reveal de Muras distinct individuality: The juxtaposition of golden-brown, even and hardly accentuated lines in pen and black ink and their washes which are partly changing in tone are typical features of de Mura. These effect are also visible in the drawing „The Assumption of the Virgin“ in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York which is presumably a design for the ceiling fresco in the church of the Nunziatella in Naples (c. 1751) (J. Bean/ W. Griswold, 18th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1990, p. 149-51, No. 138).
The monumental arrangement of the figures in the drawing also reminds one of de Mura’s „Rest on the Flight into Egypt“ in the cathedral of Toledo. De Mura may have adapted the pose of Saint Joseph who is leaning on the back of his donkey with his right elbow for the figure of Saint Matthew in the present drawing.

We are grateful to Prof. Nicholas Turner for his scientific support.