NEAPOLITAN PAINTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY The Forge of Vulcan Oil on canvas, 112X132 cm Provenance: Collection of Maria Carolina di Borbone delle Due Sicilie Duchess of Berry. Vienna, Dorotheum, 9 June 2021, lot 263 (as 17th-century Neapolitan School) A similar composition is conserved in the Civic Museums in Pesaro and judged by Federico Zeri to be of the 17th century Veneto school (see archive no. Zeri: 54925- C. Giardini, E. Negro, M. Pirondini (ed.), Dipinti e disegni della pinacoteca civica di Pesaro, 1993, pp. 88-89 (as a workshop of Luca Giordano, but the work's relationship with Antonio Zanchi is highlighted). Having said this, the painting is here judged to be of the Neapolitan school and its genesis is attributed to an author participating in Luca Giordano's workshop. In fact, the work is a version with clear variants of the canvas in the Hermitage (cf. O. Ferrari, G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, Naples 1992, I, p. 264, no. A91, fig. 164).