(Rodio del Cilento 1610 ? - 1656/58 Naples)
(Bergamo circa 1604–1670 Rome)
(Naples active around 1647)
Piscina Probatica,
oil on canvas, 212.5 x 171 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly Church of San Diego all’Ospedaletto, Naples (until 1784);
Pagano collection, Naples;
Private European collection

Literature:
N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del ‘600: 889 illustrazioni in bianco e nero e diciannove tavole a colori, Milan 1984, fig. 199 (as Antonio de Bellis);
G. de Vito, Ritrovamenti e precisazioni a seguito della prima edizione della mostra del 600 napoletano, in: Ricerche sul ‘600 napoletano. Saggi vari in memoria di Raffaello Causa, 1984, p. 13, illustrated p. 59 fig. 41 (as Antonio de Bellis);
N. Spinosa, Civiltà del Seicento a Napoli, Naples 1984, vol. I, p. 236, not illustrated (as Antonio de Bellis);
B. Daprà, Antonio de Bellis, in: B. Daprà (ed.), Tra luci e ombre: la pittura a Napoli da Battistello Caracciolo a Luca Giordano, exhibition catalogue, Naples 1996, p. 43, not illustrated (as Antonio de Bellis);
N. Spinosa, Il Maestro dell’Annuncio ai pastori, Bartolomeo Bassante, Antonio de Bellis o Bernardo Cavallino? Riflessioni e dubbi sul primo seicento a Napoli, in: Scritti in memoria di Raffaello Causa. Saggi e documenti per la storia dell’arte 1994-1995, Naples 1996, p. 251, not illustrated (as Antonio de Bellis);
S. Causa, La strategia dell’attenzione: pittori a Napoli nel primo Seicento, Naples 2007, p. 145, fig. 79 (as Antonio de Bellis);
G. Wiedmann, Francesco Guarini e Antonio De Bellis ‘tutti discepoli del Cavalier Massimo Stanzione’, in: M. A. Pavone (ed.), Francesco Guarini. Nuovi contributi, Naples 2012, vol. 1, p. 57, not illustrated (as Antonio de Bellis)

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination of the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot. Lattuada dates the work to 1644-46.

This painting represents one of the miracles of Christ described in the Gospel of Saint John (5:1-17): the moment when he healed the lame man who was unable to immerse himself into the healing waters of the pool at Bethsaida.

This subject is unusual in Neapolitan painting from the first half of the seventeenth century. The composition relates to Giovanni Lanfranco’s fresco for the church of Santissimi Apostoli in Naples. The similarities between this and the present painting, were first observed by Stefano Causa (see literature). The figure of the bather is related to a similar figure in a drawing by de Bellis for one of the Stories of Saint Charles Borromeo in the church of San Carlo alle Mortelle, Naples (1636-1640). The two figures of apostles on the left, one of whom, turns toward the viewer might de Bellis’ self-portrait as de Vito (see literature) observed. These figures are similar to a corresponding pair in the Joseph sold by his brothers by Francesco Guarino and his studio in the church of Sant’Andrea in Solofra.

The imposing architectural backdrop of the present painting has been given to Viviano Codazzi, and it appears that the architectural background was painted before the figures, according to the working practice of collaborations between architectural and figure painters. David Marshall suggests the possibility of another candidate for the collaboration with de Bellis, Antonio de Michele, given the registration of a collaboration between de Bellis and de Michele in inventories (letter to Lattuada 23 September 2017).

Owing to the large format and imposing spatial arrangement of the work, Lattuada suggests that it was intended as an altarpiece for the church of San Diego all’Ospedaletto, and that it survived the collapse of the ceiling when an earthquake struck in 1784. Indeed, some sources recount that the church contained paintings by the ‘Cavalier Massimo, and others by Andrea Vaccaro, Antonio de Bellis, Michele Fracanzano, Scipione da Salerno and others’ [‘Cavalier Massimo, gli altri di Andrea Vaccaro, Antonio de Bellis, Michele Fracanzano, Scipione da Salerno e d’altri’].

From recent documentary evidence it is known that de Bellis was born in Rodio del Cilento around 1610 (see G. Porzio, Novità e conferme per Antonio de Bellis, in: Bollettino d’arte, 2015, 8, 100, no. 25, pp. 101-110). Lattuada has suggested that the Piscina Probatica was executed in the mid-1640s, and therefore to de Bellis’ maturity and it reveals his alignment with the new baroque tendencies that were emerging in Naples from the late 1630s.