CESARE FRACANZANO (Bisceglie, 1605 - Barletta, 1651) Saint Euphemia Oil on canvas, 134X108 cm Provenance: Milan, Sotheby's, 12 June 2001, lot 107 (as a circle of Andrea Vaccaro and interpreted as Saint Lucy) Naples, private collection Bibliography: V. Pacelli, Pittura del Seicento nelle collezioni napoletane, Naples 2001, p. 48, table 38 G. De Vito, Perifrasi fracanzaniane, in Ricerche sul '600 napoletano. Saggi e documenti 2003-2004, pp. 92-122, table V P. Piscitello, in Return to the Baroque. Da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli, exhibition catalogue edited by N. Spinosa, Naples 2009, p. 129, no. 1.49 N. Spinosa, Pittura del Seicento a Napoli da Caravaggio a Massimo Stanzione, Naples 2011, pp. 277-278, n. 203 A. Della Ragione, Cesare Fracanzano. The Complete Works, Naples 2014, fig. 19 Despite his originality and notable status in the Neapolitan painting scene, there is little information about Cesare Fracanzano, whose early training took place in the workshop of his father Alessandro, who, of Veronese origin, expressed a style linked to the late manner. We know that the artist moved to Naples in 1629 with his brother Francesco and, according to Bernardo de Dominici, they frequented the workshop of Jusepe de Ribera. Fracanzano's early style, in fact, adhered to the strongly naturalistic and Caravaggio-like stimuli, but revealed a peculiar originality, a tenuously classicist bent and a predilection for expressing the most obvious aspect of Ribera's pictorialism. His compositions, particularly with single figures standing out against a dark background, openly express loose, open and chromatically vivid brushstrokes, as is evident in the work under scrutiny, which reveals the overt influence of Van Dyck (1599-1641) and, consequently, expressive declinations of the Monrealese. This datum therefore suggests a later dating of the frescoes and canvases painted in 1641 for the Church of the Sapienza in Naples and a proximity to the Saint Helen of Barletta and the Maddalena Orante of San Domenico Maggiore. Reference bibliography: P. Piscitello, in Return to the Baroque. Da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli, exhibition catalogue edited by N. Spinosa, Naples 2009, pp. 127-128, no. 1.48 N. Spinosa, Pittura del Seicento a Napoli da Caravaggio a Massimo Stanzione, Naples 2011, pp. 279-288, figs. 206-222 G. Porzio, Cesare Fracanzano, un Compianto sul corpo di Abele e altre restituzioni al suo catalogo, in Ricerche sull'arte a Napoli in età moderna. Writings in honour of Giuseppe De Vito, Naples 2014, pp. 80-87