(Naples 1606–1656?)
Christ and the Adulteress,
oil on canvas, 128.5 x 154.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Count Maffei, Naples;
and thence by descend to the present owner

Literature:
M. A. Pavone, Onofrio Palumbo e Francesco Guarini: due percorsi paralleli, in: M. A. Pavone/D. Pasculli Ferrara (eds.), Francesco Guarini: nuovi contributi, Naples 2012, vol. 1, pp. 108-109, illustrated p. 113 fig. 2, p. 116 fig. 7 (as Onofrio Palumbo);
M. C. Giannattasio, Francesco Guarini, Onofrio Palumbo e la tradizione iconografica dei sette Arcangeli, in: M. A. Pavone/D. Pasculli Ferrara (eds.), Francesco Guarini: nuovi contributi, Naples 2012, vol. 1, pp. 121-123, illustrated p. 128 figs. 1, 4 (as Onofrio Palumbo)

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution after examination of the present painting in the original.

Onofrio Palumbo, or Palomba, was a pupil of Battistello Caracciolo (1578-1635) and had a documented collaboration with Artemisia Gentileschi during the years spent in Naples by the Roman paintress (circa 1630-1654). The present work shows a strong influence of Artemisia’s style combined with a typically Neapolitan thick impasto close to Jusepe de Ribera and Massimo Stanzione (see G. Porzio, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 80, Rome 2014, ad vocem).