(Puria di Valsoldo 1561–1589)
The conversion of Saint Paul,
oil on alabaster laid down on slate, 45 x 34 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 19 June 1985, lot 551 (as Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavalier d’Arpino);
Private collection, Austria

We are grateful to Herwarth Röttgen for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a digitial photograph and for his help in cataloguing this work.

Giovanni Battista Pozzo, belonged to Raffaele Motta, called Raffaellino da Reggio’s artistic circle in Rome. His works are often characterised by diagonal compositional elements, such as in the Martyrdom of Saint Eleutherius in Santa Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian, Rome, which dates from 1585 and also features an extremely similar horse to the one in the present composition. Furthermore, are the figures’ facial features and their extended limbs, comparable to Pozzo’s works in the Cappella Sistina in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome and in the Loggia della Benedizione in San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome.

The artist’s compositional style is typical of Roman Mannerism. Painting on alabaster was a popular method during this period and works such as the present painting were often included in cabinets of curiosities.