Bidspirit auction | Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino,

Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino, 1657 – Naples, 1747) - Field Marshal Matthias von der Schulenburg (ca.1725) - Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 109 x 91 cm. A report by Professor Stefano Causa is attached. This portrait, of great compositional elegance and technical refinement, depicts a knight of the Order of Malta dressed in armor and wearing the order's distinctive cross on his chest. The work has been attributed by Professor Stefano Causa to Francesco Solimena, a key figure in Neapolitan Baroque painting, active between the 17th and 18th centuries and a direct heir to the style of Luca Giordano. Professor Causa's study places the work around 1725, during the artist's period of full maturity, highlighting the pictorial quality, the monumentality of the portrait, and Solimena's characteristic light treatment. The composition is structured through a careful articulation of volumes, fluid and pasty brushwork, and a masterful command of chiaroscuro that gives the figure a powerful stage presence. The attribution is based on various formal and technical elements: the construction of the face using warm glazes, the precise modeling of the hands and the texture of the armor, along with the use of enveloping amber light that highlights the dignity of the subject. These resources correspond to those employed by Solimena in his most renowned portraits, such as the Portrait of Philip V of Spain (1702, Royal Palace of Caserta) or the Portrait of Prince Pisani (Pisani collection, Naples). Likewise, the three-quarter pose, the restrained gesture, and the neutral background with slight tonal modulations respond to the canon of Neapolitan stage portraiture, in dialogue with the French court tradition represented by Hyacinthe Rigaud, an influence that Solimena reinterpreted with a fully Italian sensibility. The attribution report indicates that the portrait presents all the features of Solimena's autograph painting, although it is possible that, as in other examples of his later production, he had partial collaboration with his workshop in the peripheral areas of the canvas. A work of exceptional quality and excellent state of preservation, this portrait is a significant testament to the refinement, expressive power, and monumental elegance that defined 18th-century Neapolitan court portraiture. Lot in international warehouse (within the EU). Intra-EU shipping: no import duties apply within the EU. An export permit from the country of origin may be required.