Luigi Amidani (Parma, 1591 - after 1629) "Martyrdom of St. Matthias". Oil on canvas. 206 x 125 cm. This is a painting that was previously unknown to the art market. This large format picture was already mentioned and reproduced in 1965, in an art magazine in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. The private collection where this canvas was found, together with another ("Martyrdom of St. Andrew"), with which it was paired, is also located in the same town. It was then considered a Luigi Miradori, according to another scholar (Pérez Sánchez). And previously, in the 19th century, it had other and varied attributions. Professor Massimo Pullin made a study on Amidani (1591-1629) and an attribution to this Italian Baroque painter. He used the method of viewing and comparing as many paintings by the artist as possible from many world art galleries, cathedrals and private collections, as well as compiling all the writings and studies related to this Italian painter written until then, with opinions of scholars and curators of art galleries such as the Louvre itself. For his rigorous study, he observed and contemplated in depth all the work by Amidani that existed in Spain (the so-called "Iberian stage" of the painter in which he broke loose from being a mere copyist): on the one hand, a series of ten small paintings (0.43 x 0.35 cm) depicting the "Martyrdoms of the Apostles", which were in the Royal Academy of San Fernando belonging to the novitiate of the Jesuits in Seville, (then attributed to Tintoretto) and which were in the Academy before 1796 (brought by Ponz); This attribution changed in 1804, in the 'Inventario de Alhajas' (Inventory of Treasures), and the new attribution was to Pablo de Céspedes - a painter from Cordoba, as was then noted in ink on the back of the frames. This mistaken attribution was maintained throughout the 19th century, until it was modified by Alfonso Pérez Sánchez in the 1963/64 inventory in which, he proposed Luigi Miradori as the artist. Massimo Pullini in the 21st century (2020) disputed the previous authorship as he recognised the style of the Italian Baroque painter who accompanied Velázquez on his first trip to Italy, in most of this small series. In addition, Luigi Amidani was a favorite disciple of Bartolomé Schedoni, a painter linked to the Farnese family who, in turn, had a close relationship with Velázquez on the occasion of that first trip to Italy. Some of these small-format paintings, which were always on view to students and teachers at the Academy, served as inspiration for later paintings. Massimo, on the other hand, also studied the remains of what could have been another series of the same subject (martyrdoms of apostles) in a larger format, in Spain and in other art galleries around the world, which house the martyrdoms of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia, and those of St. Andrew and St. Matthias in a private collection in Jerez de la Frontera, (one of them, the painting we are commenting on). In the small format painting "The Martyrdom of St. Matthias", the saint is shown lying down and dressed, being viciously stoned by his executioners. In the large format work we have here in our catalogue, he appears half-naked, in the style of St. Andrew, St. John, St. Jude Thaddeus, St. Bartholomew..., the torsos are exposed and covered by peplos or remains of tunics or torn and hanging clothes. Professor M. Pullini observes the figures' morphology and expressions as being similar to those of the large format painting from Jerez de la Frontera, faces "that can well be defined as neo-Gothic, full of a hardness that at times borders on the grotesque". In this large canvas the saint is depicted as being stripped between two soldiers, and in the foreground, kneeling, is the one who announces the method of martyrdom, carrying a basket full of stones. According to tradition, the saint was stoned in Judea around the year 80, after being condemned to death by the High Priest, and later beheaded with an axe for having opposed Caesar. His face does not lose courage or strength, and despite the intuition that he is going to die, he looks on with the strength of the One who fills him with his truth. The large vertical format of the painting must certainly have been chosen to complete the pictorial collection of some chapel or church. Crudeness in the images, pronounced foreshortenings, and violent effects of light are very reminiscent of the influences exerted by the master Caravaggio, and his mature style and the abrupt chromatic contrasts are very much influenced by Ribera. Two other canvases also studied by Massimo could come from this same large-format series. No longer in Spain, the so-called "Stoning of an Apostle" which appeared on the London antique market and the "Martyrdom of St. Paul" that can be found in the Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden (Germany). Reference bibliography: Reference bibliography: - Luzón Nogué, José María (ed.) (2022). Velázquez in Italy. Between Luigi Amidani and Juan de Córdoba'. Madrid: Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. - Pulini, Massimo (November 2020). "Luigi Amidani da Parma a Madrid, da pittore dei Farnese a 'confidente' di Velázquez". About Art On Line. - VV. AA. (2000). Velázquez Corpus. Documents and texts, 2 vols., under the direction of J. M. Pita Andrade. Madrid.