Sebastiano Conca

Sebastiano Conca painted in the late Baroque style: bright, graceful religious and mythological scenes with plenty of movement, clouds, putti and soft pastel colour. His figures are elegant rather than heavy, and his compositions flow easily from one group to the next.

He was born in Gaeta in 1680 and trained in Naples under Francesco Solimena. In 1706 he settled in Rome, where he spent years drawing to refine his skills and became one of the busiest painters in the city. He painted the prophet Jeremiah for the Lateran basilica, was knighted by the pope, and twice served as head of the Accademia di San Luca. Late in life he returned to Naples, where he painted frescoes in the church of Santa Chiara, and he died there in 1764.

Scenes like Rinaldo and Armida or Alexander the Great in the Temple of Jerusalem show his gift for staging a crowd with clear, warm light.