(active in the second half of the 17th Century)
Architectural capriccio with Saint Peter and Saint Paul led to martyrdom,
oil on canvas, 154 x 204 cm, framed

Literature:
G. Sestieri, Il capriccio architettonico in Italia nel XVII e XVIII secolo, Rome 2015, p. 347 cat. no. 88 (as Viviano Codazzi and Carlo Coppola)

This painting is an idealised reworking of Roman ancient monuments. In the right foreground stands a portico with Solomonic columns, in front of a triumphal arch based on the Arch of Constantine placed frontally in the left middle ground. Beyond in the centre is the Colosseum and further away a landscape. The figures include Saint Peter and Saint Paul being led off by soldiers in the left middle ground, and various soldiers, horseman and spectators.

Carlo Coppola was a pupil of Aniello Falcone (1607–1656), together with Domenico Gargiulo and Salvator Rosa (see B. De Dominici, Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, Naples 1733, II, p. 80). Coppola was recorded as producing both sacred subjects and battles scenes. The execution of the figures with helmets and armour, the horses, the soldier standing in the centre with the long pole can be compared to the painting Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, in a private collection, Rome (see G. Sestieri, I pittori di Battaglie. Maestri italiani e stranieri del XVII e XVIII secolo, Rome 1999, pp. 297–298, pl. 1).