Sebastiano Conca (Gaeta 1680-1764 Naples)

Following a period of training with Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) in Naples, Sebastiano Conca arrived in Rome in 1707. Almost immediately he established himself as a succesful painter and received his first official commission in 1714 for the Church of San Clemente. Conca painted for the leading art patrons of the city, including Cardinals Spada and Ottoboni and Pope Clement XI who commissioned works in 1718 for the church of San Giovanni Laterano in Rome. Conca was elected in 1718 to the Accademia di San Luca and its director in 1729-1731 and 1739-1741.
Conca revisited the subject of the Madonna with Sleeping Child throughout his career. Other examples of the subject include the picture of circa 1710 in the Hermitage. Of similar dimension, the present lot can be compared to a copper sold in Florence by Pandolfini on the 31 March 2010, lot 377.