cerchia di Luca Giordano (Napoli, 1634 – 1705)

For the present painting an attribution to Giuseppe Simonelli (Naples 1650 - 1710) has been advanced on stylistic bases. Active in the workshop of Luca Giordano, Simonelli often played freely the compositions of the master and his role as a favorite pupil allowed him to complete the unfinished works by Giordano, when he moved to the Spanish court. Luca Giordano’s version of the same subject and very similar, with variants, to the painting in the lot can be dated between 1660 and 1665 and is located in Naples, in the Church of Santa Maria del Buonconsiglio (Temple of the Crowned in Capodimonte) Basilica of the Crowned Mother of Good Counsel.