(Molfetta 1703–1765 Naples)
The Punishment of Tityus,
oil on canvas, 131 x 92.7 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting is a recent addition to the oeuvre of the Neapolitan painter Corrado Giaquinto. The vertical image is almost filled by the monumental depiction of the male figure in chains, with the upper right corner giving a view of a nocturnal landscape. The composition of the punished is inspired by the figure of Laocoön – the celebrated Hellenistic sculpture discovered on the Colle Oppio, Rome in 1506 and exhibited to the public soon after in the Vatican Cortile di Belvedere.

In the painting, the lower part of the body is a direct study from the back of the legs of Laocoön, while the torso and arms are taken from the same model but from the opposite direction, thereby the painting appears to have combined two studies taken from different positions to create a new composition. The artist added the chains and serpent, attributes that are difficult to interpret iconographically but that may relate to a rare version of the myth of Tityus, in which punishment is inflicted upon the protagonist by a serpent rather than a vulture (this version is reported in the Fabulae of Hyginus).

The painting is executed deploying fluid free strokes of the brush against an ochre ground, without the use of a preparatory drawing. Layering of various shades of green and ochre build the flesh tones of the figure, with vertical hatching and rapid but precise brushstrokes creating texture and depth. The knees, elbows, lower spine, left thigh and toes are modelled by using red and brown tones which are repeated in the surrounding rock, creating a harmonious whole. The figure’s placement on a boulder overgrown with moss, serves as a complementary colour contrast to the background.

The present painting relates to a series of male nude studies painted by Giaquinto for Cardinal Villafalletto around 1750 (see M. D’Orsi, Corrado Giaquinto, Rome 1958, p. 143, nos. 86–88; and R. Lattuada, Corrado Giaquinto e/o Geremia Romani della Parrocchiale di Nettuno e altre opere di Giaquinto inedite a poco note a Poggiardo, Washington e altrove, in: Studi sul Settecento Romano, forthcoming). Especially, the study of a seated nude is comparable to the present painting. Not only the posture with the supported right arm and the bent left leg, but also the surface treatment of the from are similar. The hatchings on the body are also found in this nude study. The same applies to the colouring with the use of ochre, green and brown tones. Even in this academic exercise from life, Giaquinto, as a trained Baroque painter, while striving for the exact linear determination of forms, ended up carrying out a study of light effects.

Corrado Giaquinto was an apprentice alongside Francesco de Mura and Giuseppe Bonito in the studio of the Neapolitan artist Nicola Maria Rossi. In 1723 in Rome Giaquinto started modifying the robust Neapolitan style to reflect the classicising Roccoco taste. He was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1740. With the commission of frescoes for the church of San Nicola dei Lorenesi in 1731, Giaquinto received further prestigious commissions that earned him a leading reputation and led to stays in Turin and Spain. Called to the court of Madrid in 1753 by Ferdinand VI, the painter was to spend nearly a decade there. His position as the preeminent artistic figure in the country was confirmed by appointment as Primer Pintor del Rey as well as director of the Academia di San Fernando, newly formed by the art-loving Spanish King. Corrado Giaquinto later returned to Naples.