CORRADO GIAQUINTO (MOLFETTA, NEAR BARI 1703-1766 NAPLES)

This small devotional painting by Giaquinto is characteristically spontaneous in its brushwork and vibrant in its colors. Its modest dimensions and the fluid handling of paint might suggest that it is, in fact, a modello or presentation piece for a client, but no larger finished painting has come to light. Giaquinto clearly planned its design carefully: a preparatory drawing for the whole composition is in Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Arte de Catalunya (fig. 1; inv. no. 027166-D), and a sketch for the figure of Saint Dominic was with P. & D. Colnaghi in 1984 (loc. cit.).

Giaquinto was born in Molfetta, near Bari, and worked in Naples, Turin and Rome, where he set up a thriving workshop. In 1753 Giaquinto was called to Madrid, where he succeeded Jacopo Amigoni as court painter to Ferdinand VI, King of Spain. This painting would appear to be a mature work by Giaquinto, almost certainly executed in Spain before his definitive return to Naples in 1762.