Sebastiano Conca Genius of History (Allegorical Figure of Fame writing History) before 1764 oil on copper National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire |
Sebastiano Conca Education of Dionysus ca. 1730 oil on canvas Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries |
Sebastiano Conca Sibyl 1726 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
Sebastiano Conca Glory of St Cecilia ca. 1727 fresco (detail) Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastavere, Rome |
Sebastiano Conca Blessings of Good Government (Allegorical Scene representing the Government of Pope Benedict XIV) ca. 1740-58 oil on canvas Manchester Art Gallery |
"Sebastiano Conca was born in Gaeta in 1680 and was initially trained in Naples under Francesco Solimena, whom he assisted in Monte Cassino and elsewhere. From 1706 he was in Rome, where he continued his education through the study of the great masters. His first important public work entailed several paintings in S. Clemente which were commissioned by Pope Clement XI in conjunction with the refurbishing of the church in 1714; these were much acclaimed. From this point onward Conca was one of the busiest and most famous artists in Rome and the Papal States. His works were soon well known and sought after outside of Italy as well. Conca enjoyed a particular reputation as a teacher; his atelier (in the Palazzo Farnese) was perhaps the most frequented in Rome. In 1751 he was called to Naples to undertake a major fresco project, the decoration of the ceiling of the renovated church of S. Chiara. He left Rome for good and spent the rest of his life in Naples, where he died in 1764."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
Sebastiano Conca Rinaldo and Armida ca. 1725 oil on canvas Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri |
Sebastiano Conca Adoration of the Shepherds 1720 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
Sebastiano Conca Virgin and Child in Glory above the Four Latin Fathers of the Church before 1764 oil on panel (sketch) Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
Sebastiano Conca Alexander the Great in Jerusalem 1736 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Sebastiano Conca Idolatry of Solomon ca. 1750 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Sebastiano Conca Prophet Jeremiah 1718 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Sebastiano Conca Venus at the Forge of Vulcan ca. 1716-18 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
attributed to Sebastiano Conca Study for Crucifixion before 1764 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
Sebastiano Conca Dead Christ with Angels before 1764 oil on canvas Besançon Cathedral (France) |