(Piano Vetrale 1662–1728 Naples)
Leda and the Swan, 
oil on canvas, 126.5 x 179 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, Monte-Carlo, 21–22 June 1991, lot 119 (as Paolo de Matteis);
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Salerno, Fondazione Grande Lucania, Pennello d’oro: La grande scuola napoletana dal barocco al neoclassicismo, 3–5 August 2018, s. n. (as Paolo de Matteis)

Literature:
N. Spinosa, Paolo De Matteis ad Ariccia tra il sacro e il profano, in: Dipinti inediti del Barocco italiano da collezioni private. Quaderni del Barocco, no. 10, 2010, pp. 13–14, illustrated p. 11, fig. 11 (as Paolo de Matteis);
F. Castiello, Il fascino del mito. Da Ovidio a Paolo de Matteis, Sarno 2019, illustrated on the cover, pp. 268–270, illustrated (as Paolo de Matteis)

The story of Leda and the Swan is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphosis and was a popular subject-matter in Italian seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting. In the present composition, Leda reclines on soft folds of bedding with the swan. Her softly modeled body is illuminated by a light source shining in from the lower left corner, while her face lies in shadow with her eyes half-closed in entrancement. The composition is set like a stage and the drapes flow illusionistically over the lower edge as if into the viewer’s space.

Paolo de Matteis’ artistic career started within the workshop of Luca Giordano. In around 1682 he moved to Rome, tempering his Neapolitan training with the Classicism of Carlo Maratta and the artists active in the milieu of the French Academy. After his return to Naples, his artistic reputation was sealed with commissions from Emperor Joseph I, as well as Popes Innocent XIII and Benedict XIII.