(Naples 1610–1675)
A study of two horsemen, accompanied by two figures on foot, pen and brown ink, on laid paper, 13 x 18 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome.

Literature:
G. Sestieri, B. Daprà, Domenico Gargiulo detto Micco Spadaro. Paesaggista e “cronista” napoletano, Rome 1994, p. 372, Cat. D21.

Domenico Gargiulo continued to paint battle scenes after the model of his teacher Aniello Falcone (1607–1657). Depictions with riders can be found in many of his paintings. The present drawing and another sheet in the collection J. Scholz, New York (Sestieri/Daprà 1994, Cat. D51) belong to the only references of the subject in his graphic work. The sketch with the two riders cannot be ascribed to a certain painting by Gargiulio precisely; details such as the rider in the left foreground are however related with the composition “The Conversion of Saint Paul” (Sestieri/Daprà 1994, p. 306, Cat. 155). The smaller figure of the rider at the right margin of the sketch resembles the rider in the right background of the painting. The open and expressive lines and the sketchlike rendition of the represented figure are characteristic for Gargiulo’s drawings.