(Sarzana 1589–1669 Genoa)
The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence,
oil on canvas, 148 x 118.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale Sotheby’s, New York, 21 January 2001, lot 192 (as Jacopo Vignali)

Literature:
F. Baldassari, La Pittura del Seicento a Firenze, indice degli artisti e delle loro opere, Milano 2009, p. 710 (under Jacopo Vignali)

We are grateful to Anna Orlando for suggesting the attribution and for dating of the present work to circa 1613-15.

Fiasella was one of the most important painters in 17th Century Genoa, and his training was underpinned by the rule of good design as he was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Paggi and Aurelio Lomi, the brother of Orazio Gentileschi. Fiasella came into close contact with Gentileschi himself, when were both in Rome and then in Genoa in 1621. (Soprani 1674, p. 252.)

The present work was executed, in Orlando´s opinion, when Fiasella was in Rome between 1607 and 1615, when he was deeply influenced by the work of Caravaggio (see R. Longhi, Ultimi studi sul Caravaggio e la sua cerchia, in ‘proporzioni’, I, 1943, p. 31). Other works by Fiasella, from this period are included in the inventory of the collection of Vincenzo Giustiniani in 1638 and it is possible to identify two of these paintings: Christ healing the Blind and Christ resurrects the widow of Naim in the Ringling Museum, Sarasota (see P. Donati in Domenico Fiasella 1990 cit., pp. 88-92 and M. Newcome Schleier in Caravaggio e i Giustiniani. Toccar con mano una collezione del Seicento, exhibition catalogue edited by Silvia Danesi Squarzina (Rome), Milan 2001, pp. 308-311; with bibliography).

Sources also state that Fiasella frequented the Giustiniani house in Rome and this is essential for the understanding of his Roman period as it was here that he was introduced to the works of Caravaggio, the Caravaggesque paintings of Reni from the early 17th century as well as the works of the Northern painters (see. M. Newcame in Kunst in der Republik Genua, 1528-1815, exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt 1992, no. 45, p. 111). The study of the effects of artificial light was inspired by direct contact with artists present in Rome in those years: Dirck van Baburen (from approx. 1612), Gerrit van Honthorst (before 1616), Hendrick Terbrüggen (approx. 1604-1614), Valentin de Boulogne (certainly from 1612). (The chronological indications are derived from B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe. Second edition, revised and enlarged by Luisa Vertova, Turin 1989).

The present compostion recalls and identifies the components underlying the formal vocabulary of Fiasella in Rome, the direct and indirect Caravaggism intended in the two strong values of naturalism, and the study of artificial light, as well as a classicism that derives from Raphael and Emilian painting.

It has been suggested that the saint depicted here is the same saint to which the parish where Fiasella resided in Rome is dedicated (S. Lorenzo in Lucina) and that the commission of this work might in some way be connected.

The biographical information on Domenico Fiasella has remained relatively consistent because his 'life' was documented by his pupil and brother Giovanni Battista Casone (Lerici 1610-1681), who supervised the final draft of the print edition of the lives of ‘Genovese Painters, Sculptors and Architects' by Raffaele Soprani (Genoa 1674)., see. V. Belloni, Penne, pennelli e quadreria, Genova 1973, pp. 13-19;

We are grateful to Anna Orlando for her help in cataloguing this work.