2-745-480 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin, c. 1708. The dramatic contrasts of light and dark reveal the long aftereffects of Caravaggio in Naples. Yet, the elegant forms, rich colours, and perfected body of Christ have far more affinities with the paintings on the opposite wall, stemming from the idealizing strand of Italian art of the 1600s and 1700s. Solimena sought to improve on nature, based on the study of antiquity, aiming to create a work of grandeur and nobility meant to inspire reverence and devotion appropriate to the subject.