Francesco De Mura (Naples 1696 - 1782) - Saint... Lot 223

Francesco De Mura (Naples 1696 - 1782) - Saint Peter's oil on canvas 101 x 74 cm We thank Professor Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution after examining the work on a photographic basis. This painting (lot 223) and the following one depicting Saint Paul (lot 224) are unequivocally conceived as complementary even on the compositional level. According to the scholar, these paintings can be attributed to Francesco De Mura's early phase, in a period characterized by a marked Solimenesque influence. Among the versions so far identified and qualitatively comparable are, in particular, the pairs kept in private collections in Bologna and Foggia, mentioned by Mario Alberto Pavone, the St. Paul the Apostle kept at the National Gallery of Apulia "Girolamo and Rosaria Devanna" in Bitonto and the St. Peter the Apostle transited in Christie's auction, London, December 8, 2006, lot 229 (for the iconographic fortune of the canvases see V. Pugliese, Una questione demuriana. Traces of a youthful St. Paul the Apostle, in Angels, coats of arms, confraternities, art, edited by M. Pasculli Ferrara, D. Donofrio Del Vecchio, 2007, pp. 449-462).