66 - Massimo Stanzione (Frattamaggiore or Orta di Atella, 1585 – Naples, 1656), workshop of

Massimo Stanzione (Frattamaggiore or Orta di Atella, 1585 – Naples, 1656), workshop of Saint Mary Magdalene in Meditation Oil on canvas 98.5 x 75.5 cm This work is a workshop version, of nearly identical dimensions but with variations in the lower register, of the canvas housed at Palazzo Lanfranchi, the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata, in Matera. Such was the admiration for Massimo Stanzione’s art that he was nicknamed the “Neapolitan Guido Reni.” Indeed, his works combine the classicism of Emilian painting by Reni and Domenichino with the tenebrism bequeathed by Caravaggio. Starting out as a portraitist, he later established himself as a Baroque painter devoted to sacred subjects; his most important works are, in fact, recognized in his large altarpieces as well as in the fresco cycles for Neapolitan churches. An artistic rival of Jusepe de Ribera, he dominated the Neapolitan art scene of the first half of the seventeenth century alongside Spagnoletto. Stanzione had a profound influence on the Neapolitan painting scene that followed him, having been an important founder of a school. He enjoyed a vast and immediate following, even converting painters such as Filippo Vitale and Francesco Guarino—who until then had worked within the naturalist tradition—to his themes. Among his many students and followers, we mention: Andrea Vaccaro, Bernardo Cavallino, Muzio Rossi (Nunzio), Pacecco De Rosa, Onofrio Palumbo, Domenico Gargiulo, Giovanni Ricca, Giuseppe Marullo, Nicola Marigliano, Antonio De Bellis, Agostino and Giuseppe Beltrano, Carlo Rosa, Domenico Finoglia, Andrea and Niccolò Malinconico, and Nicolò De Simone. All of these artistic figures, often of the highest caliber, unequivocally recognized Massimo Stanzione’s significant contribution to the 17th-century Neapolitan art scene. Massimo Stanzione (Frattamaggiore or Orta di Atella 1585 – Naples 1656) workshop of Saint Mary Magdalene in Meditation Oil on canvas 98.5 x 75.5 cm This work is a workshop version, of nearly identical dimensions but with variations in the lower section, of the painting held at Palazzo Lanfranchi, the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata, in Matera.