Francesco Solimena (b. 1657, Nocera dei Pagani,
d. 1743, Barra), was the leading Neapolitan painter of the first half
of the 18th century. In a long and extremely productive career he
painted frescoes in many of the great churches in Naples, and he became
one of the wealthiest and most famous European artists of his day. His
vigorous style, often marked by dramatic lighting, owed much to the
example of such
Baroque
artists as
Luca Giordano
(his outstanding predecessor in Naples), Lanfranco, and
Preti,
but it also has a firmness of structure and a clarity of draughtmanship
that shows his allegiance to the classical tradition of
Raphael
and
Annibale Carracci.
Solimena's paintings were in demand all over Europe, and his
international influence was spread also by his celebrity as teacher.
Ramsay was among his pupils and
Fragonard
copied his work in S. Paolo Maggiore.