GIOVANNI CONCA (Gaeta, c. 1690 - Rome, 1771) Allegory of Peace Oil on canvas, 74X62 cm A pupil of his cousin Sebastiano and of Solimena, Giovanni Conca is documented in Rome from 1719 and in 1722 was admitted to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon and elected to the Accademia di San Luca in 1735. Leaving Rome in 1738, the painter worked for the Savoy court until 1749, when his presence in the Eternal City is again documented. The artist's style undoubtedly reflects the manners of his cousin Sebastiano, but his technical ability is undoubted and he is judged to be 'a painter of good maxims, full of wise warnings in composition and singularly very studious in observing in real life the accidents of drapery' (cf. G. A. Guattani, Vita di Gaetano Lapis, in Memorie per le Belle Arti, I-III, Roma gennaio 1787). Reference bibliography: O. Michel, Vita, allievi e famiglia di Sebastiano Conca, in Sebastiano Conca, exhibition catalogue edited by G. Sestieri, Rome 1981, pp. 42 f.