The Altarpiece in Naples
By far the altarpiece was the most important and frequently commissioned type of art in late 16th and 17th century Naples. These works were lavish aids to devotion which must have been both effective in dazzling the spectator into religious compliance as well as alerting them to the skill of the artists and craftsmen who designed them. These were elaborate, multi- form creations, sometimes an ornate frame structure housing two or more paintings in which painting was not exclusively important. Collaboration between commissioning bodies and artists could be frustrating complex as is shown in the case of Decio Tramontano who was caught in litigation because he didn’t fulfil a commission after eight months. Worse, Decio was caught painting other altarpieces in his workshop; as part of his defence Decio called a physician to testify to a period of five months illness![1] Even a painter of the calibre of Stanzione found himself subject to scrutiny. One of his most important commissions was for a set of paintings in the chapel of the Certosa di San Martino, though the fathers still sought “references” from artists and experts in Rome, such was the suspicion of religious orders, even to Neapolitan painters.Other like Ribera (above) because of their reputations escaped such investigation.
[1] Marshall, Baroque Naples, 11.
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