(Fossano 1634/36–1688 Naples)
Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple,
oil on canvas, 148 x 198 cm, framed

Provenance:
Anonymous Sale, Christie’s, Rome, 22 March 1988, lot 217

Literature:
M. Marini, Gregorio Preti. La sua Cerchia e gli amici, in Gregorio Preti, calabrese (1603–1672), un problema aperto, ed. by R. Vodret, G. Leone, exh. cat. Cosenza, Milano 2004, pp. 69-70, fig. 9;
M. A. Pavone, in Dalla donazione Devanna. Dipinti dal Cinquecento al Novecento, exh. cat. Rome, 2005, p. 60, no. 12;
M. A. Pavone, in: Percorsi d’Arte tra vestigia dei Messapi, il collezionismo dei Ruffo e l’evoluzione pittorica di Mino Delle Site, exh. cat., Cavallino, 2005, p. 122;
S. Marra, in: Giovanni Battista Beinaschi. Pittore barocco tra Roma e Napoli, ed. by V. Pacelli and F. Petrucci, Rome, 2011, p. 321, no. Cb23

The present compostion with its baroque gestures and gazes are typical of works from Beinaschi´s maturity. Marra has dated the present painting to around 1675–80 (see literature). The picture’s dynamism is based on Christ’s gestures that are reminiscent of Cecco del Caravaggio’s treatment of the subject (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie). Christ’s raised arm seems to introduce a force that pushes the frightened traders to the margin of the composition. Christ’s left hand points towards the front, thereby creating the illusion of depth.
The influence of Rubens and the young Guercino, are apparent in Beinaschi’s compositions. The present work can be compared to Beinaschi´s Archangel Michael, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, or his large Fall of Saint Paul in Santa Maria della Neve in Genoa. The powerful drama with, the intense hostility of the figures’ looks, and, above all, the posture of the fleeing woman as she beseechingly looks back with closed lips seem to exemplify the pathos of early Roman Baroque painting, which impressed the spectator first and foremost through forceful movements together within a balanced composition, such as in Guido Reni’s Massacre of the Innocents. The depiction of antique buildings in the background might also pay homage to the Bolognese artist, while the figure viewed from behind at the lower left is reminiscent of prototypes by Mattia Preti.The skilful use of melodramatic light additionally contributes to the painting’s impact.

Beinaschi was born in Turin and initially studied in Piedmont. In 1652 he settled in Rome, where he became a student of Pietro del Pò, copying the frescoes of the Carracci in the Galleria Farnese and Lanfranco’s frescoes in Sant’ Andrea della Valle and drawing the antique sculptures in the Vatican’s Belvedere. He was deeply impressed by Lanfranco’s illusionism and also travelled to Parma to study the frescoes of Correggio. In 1664 he moved to Naples, where fresco painters were in great demand. Here he drew his inspiration from the painting of Luca Giordano and was influenced by Mattia Preti’s sense of drama. In 1678 he returned to Rome in order to decorate the Chapel of Saint Barnabas in SS Ambrogio and Carlo al Corso. In the 1680s he established a large workshop, and he and his students Orazio Frezza and Giuseppe Castellano executed, among other works, a comprehensive series of the Life of the Virgin for S. Maria delle Grazie in Caponapoli in Naples.