GIOVANNI RAFFAELE BADARACCO (Genoa, 1648 - 1726) Massacre of the Innocents Oil on canvas, 147X223 cm Despite its 'unfinished' expression, the canvas presented here must be considered one of Giovanni Raffaele Badaracco's most interesting creations, and the theatrical scenic construction of marked Baroque taste testifies to Ratti's assertions regarding the painter's Roman training. However, the protean culture of the artist as a pupil of Carlo Maratti, an observer of Cortona's manner and who after eight years of study in Rome moved on to Naples and then Venice, shows a marked adherence to Genoese culture. In our case, one can particularly recognise a Valerio Castello-style 'doing', mainly due to the scenic construction, the draughtsmanship and the chiaroscuro contrasts dissolved in a surprising pictorial speed. The painting, in fact, attests to Badaracco's extraordinary talent for drawing, measuring himself against an iconographic text of great significance for 17th-century Genoese art. Suffice it to think of the painting executed before 1604 by Giovanni Battista Paggi for Gio. Carlo Doria celebrated by Giovanni Battista Marino in 1609, also becoming a source of inspiration for many painters of the time including Peter Paul Rubens (see M. C. Galassi, La Strage degli Innocenti by Giovan Battista Paggi for Gio. Carlo Doria: un'abbozzo inedito e qualche ipotesi per una 'nobile gara', in AA.VV., L'arte nella storia. Contributi di critica e storia dell'arte per Gianni Carlo Sciolla, Milan 2000, pp. 369-377). Having said this, by virtue of its skilful pictorialism, the painting poses a question on Badaracco's education, considering that his father Giuseppe died in 1657 and nothing is known of the artistic continuation of his son who moved to Rome 'already quite advanced'. In this regard, it must be remembered that the theme of the Massacre of the Innocents, repeatedly tackled by Valerio Castello, was in turn illustrated by his pupil Giovanni Battista Merano when he completed the unfinished canvas destined for the church of Santo Stefano (now in storage at the Soprintendenza). Having said this, the painting reveals itself to be a creation of his full maturity and is compared to the canvas of the same subject painted by the author today in a private collection (fig. 1, oil on canvas 90X198 cm). We thank Camillo Manzitti for confirming the attribution. Reference bibliography: R. Soprani, C. Giuseppe Ratti, Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti genovesi, Genova 1768-1769, vol. II, pp. 69-73 M. Newcome Schleier, Raffaello Badaracco, in Antichità Viva, 19 (1980), no. 2, pp. 21-27 Clario di Fabio, Gio Raffaele Badaracco. Quality and industry, in Bollettino dei Musei Civici Genovesi, 14 (1992), no. 40-42, pp. 61-91 A. Orlando, Genoese Paintings from the 16th to the 18th century. Ritrovamenti dal collezionismo privato, Turin 2010, pp. 29-30