Andrea di Lione (Naples 1610-1685)

Andrea di Lione was an eclectic and varied artist. He received his first training in Naples from the Mannerist painter Belisario Corenzio, whom he assisted on frescoes of battle scenes in the Palazzo Reale in Naples. Later he entered the studio of a specialist in the same genre, Aniello Falcone, to become known as a painter of battle scenes himself. Other artists that deeply influenced his work were Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Nicolas Poussin.

The composition of this picture ultimately derives from his master Aniello Falcone's depiction of a battle between Turks and Christians now in the Louvre, Paris (see A. Bréjon de Lavergnée, 'Nouvelles toiles d'Andrea di Lione', in Scritti di storia dell'arte in onore di Frederico Zeri, Milan, 1984, II, p. 664). A work with a similar composition was sold with Finarte, Milan, 25 November 1976, lot 26. Depicted is the legendary Battle of Clavijo in Spain, where Saint James the Great appeared to help the Christians defeat the Moores.