577 - FRANCESCO DE MURA

FRANCESCO DE MURA Naples, Italy (1696) / (1782) "The Assumption of the Virgin", 1727 Oil on canvas. Provenance: 1782, bequeathed by Francesco de Mura to the Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples?; sold by the institution at an unspecified date for charitable works?; Germany, private collection; Madrid, private collection. Reference bibliography: Spinosa, Nicola: Pittura napoletana del Settecento dal Barocco al Rococo, Naples: Electa:1988, volume I, p. 92; Blumenthal, Arthur R. (ed.): In the light of Naples: the art of Francesco de Mura, Winter Park: Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College; London: D Giles Limited, 2016; Della Ragione, Achille: Francesco De Mura: eccelentissimo pittore, Napoli: Edizioni Napoli Arte, 2017, pp. 7 and 9, fig. 5. The work we present is an unpublished study or bozzetto by Francesco de Mura, one of the leading figures of the Neapolitan school in the 18th century. It was conceived as a first idea for the execution of the fresco in the Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata in Airola, in the Italian region of Campania, published by Spinosa and Della Ragione and also known through the photographic image preserved in the Fototeca of the Fondazione Federico Zeri (no. 63635) which is reproduced here. Thus, this canvas is presented as a fundamental work for observing and studying the relationship between the painter's first idea and the final result of his fresco composition, today repainted and damaged, allowing the respective compositional variants to be noted, mainly related to his "sotto in su" vision. In this work of Assumption iconography, the teachings of Solimena and the personal lessons of Mura can be observed, both artists sharing the treatment of gestures of surprise and bewilderment, unstable poses, the direction of the gazes, the richness of foreshortening and the format of animated profiles. However, his refined chromatic range is already more personal, characteristic of the works of Francesco de Mura, through the nuance and delicacy of his palette, already anticipating new sensibilities close to the Rococo spirit. It is known that in 1782 Francesco de Mura established in his will the donation of 187 works to the Pio Monte della Misericordia, a charitable institution in Naples founded in 1602. These paintings were, principally, the sketches he had kept of his main commissions, with the intention that their sale would raise funds for the needs and relief of the needy classes of the city. Today only 40 are kept at the institution, since the Pio Monte della Misericordia fulfilled, until the early 20th century, the painter's charitable testamentary mandate, with most of those sold being preserved in different museums in Europe and around the world, making the present work a point of reference for future studies of Francesco de Mura. Measurements: 50.5 x 38 cm.