Triumph Of Galatea, italian School of the 18th century

In this depiction of the “Triumph of Galatea” (oil painting on canvas, 80 x 54 cm without frame and 86 x 60 cm with frame) a basic pictorial imprint and a loose display taste emerge that clearly lead back to a direct Jordanian matrix. However, in the balanced composure of inventiveness, based on a pyramid scheme with the goddess seated on a shell emerging from the sea, honored below by two naked nereids and a stalwart newt with beard, with the addition of a cupid, then flanked on the left from the slightly backward presence of Neptune and Amphitrite, one can detect a classicistic inflection of the initial Baroque exuberance, attributable to the influence of the tendencies advocated by Belluri and pursued by Carlo Maratti in Rome. also received by Solimena in Naples.

 I believe that the present "Galatea" is a qualitative testimony of Nicola Malinconico (Naples 1663 - 1727), to be assigned to his full maturity, probably in the first decade of the eighteenth century, after the important Bergamo period of the last decade of the previous century (all uopo see the documented treatment by C. Ravelli, A Neapolitan painter in Bergamo: Nicola Malinconico ... .. for Santa. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo 1988). 

A phase that was the most prolific of the activity of the Malinconico with works in numerous Neapolitan churches and the surrounding area - including the most famous in S. Maria Donnalbina and S. Maria la Nova - in which Nicola was able to maintain the fragrance of the Baroque matrix, while expressing a temperament of his basic training, matured in direct contact with Giordano. 

Malinconico aiming above all at public and therefore mainly church offices, he certainly did not neglect private clients and secular subjects, of which the present "Galatea" constitutes a representative testimony .