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| Francesco Solimena Study of Female Figure (for handmaiden in painting, Boreas abducting Oreithyia) ca. 1700-1701 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Francesco Solimena Sketch for an Angel before 1747 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Francesco Solimena Sketch for an Angel before 1747 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Francesco Solimena St John the Baptist 1730 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
"Francesco Solimena settled in Naples in 1674 and became the unchallenged head of the Neapolitan school of painting during the first half of the 1700s. He modeled his painting on the exuberant Baroque style of his predecessor, Luca Giordano, modified by the classical tendencies of Roman decorator Pietro da Cortona. The brownish shadows that are such an identifiable element of Solimena's style are indebted to Giovanni Lanfranco and Mattia Preti. Flickering patterning of light and shade, clarity of line, and theatricality are equally characteristic of Solimena's art. Despite a first impression of a Baroque compositional free-for-all, with people in all manner of activity and poses, Solimena's figure style was actually very conventional. His figures often derived from classicizing masters of the past such as Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, and Raphael. Despite working his whole life in Naples, Solimena became one of the most influential artists in Europe. He acquired great wealth, lived in a palace, became a baron, and was in constant demand by royal patrons, including Prince Eugene of Savoy and Louis XIV of France. Solimena established his own academy, which became the center of Neapolitan artistic life, and trained innumerable young painters, including Sebastiano Conca."
– curator's notes from the Getty Museum
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| Francesco Solimena Virgin and Child ca. 1720-30 oil on canvas Glasgow Museums |
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| Francesco Solimena Virgin and Child with St Genaro and St Sebastian ca. 1700 oil on canvas Milwaukee Art Museum |
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| Francesco Solimena Virgin and Child with St Genaro and St Sebastian (detail) ca. 1700 oil on canvas Milwaukee Art Museum |
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| Francesco Solimena Venus receiving Arms of Aeneas from Vulcan (study for painting) 1704 drawing Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Francesco Solimena Venus receiving Arms of Aeneas from Vulcan 1704 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Francesco Solimena Aurora taking leave of Tithonus 1704 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Francesco Solimena Death of Messalina (study for painting) ca. 1704-1712 drawing Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Francesco Solimena Death of Messalina ca. 1704-1712 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| follower of Francesco Solimena St Michael defeating Satan ca. 1700-1725 oil on canvas National Trust, Hinton Ampner, Hampshire |
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| follower of Francesco Solimena Group of Four Men ca. 1720-30 oil on panel Glasgow Museums |