Lorenzo De Caro


Lorenzo de Caro was an Italian painter, active in the late Baroque style in his native city of Naples. He is among the most individual and whimsical figures in 18th-century Neapolitan painting, although few of his works are known.

Biography

De Caro's biographical information is sparse, and many canvases refer to painter of Neapolitan origin, active between 1740 and 1761. His name was known only from the autograph on the canvases. He was probably a pupil of Francesco Solimena and adopted the brilliant painterly effects and bold brushwork of Solimena’s late style. In 1740 he painted some canvases for the parish church of Cassino and worked in the church of the Cesarea in Naples at least until 1761, the date of the overarch painting.
De Caro is known to have married the 22-year-old Anna Mariana Bozza on 28 February 1743. The couple had ten children. According to a "census" of the local parish in 1757, the painter’s studio was in Vicolo della Porta piccola del Rosario, a narrow street between the areas of Chiaia and the Spanish Quarter. De Caro lived and worked at that address, according to recently discovered documentation in the archives of the Banco di Napoli, reflecting the "public banks of Naples". The records of the Banco San Giacomo include receipts of rent payments made by the painter in 1768 and 1769 to his landlord, the Prince of Cannito, for "two rooms and cellar on the ground floor of the house of the aforesaid Prince in the Sant’Anna di Palazzo road".
Most of De Caro's numerous works for Neapolitan churches and palazzi have been lost. He is most famous for his canvases depicting saints in Santi Filippo e Giacomo, Naples. These are stylistically close to his Charles of Bourbon ''Visiting the Abbey of Montecassino, which may be dated to the same period. The strongly characterized portraits in the latter work suggest contact with the work of Giuseppe Bonito. Notable for their extraordinary spontaneous quality are two small canvases of the Conversion of St. Paul and the Triumph of Judith. In these the composition is reminiscent of Solimena, but the interpretation is spirited, the touch rapid and the surface rich.
In similar style is the Immaculate Conception'', where the sumptuous colour and flickering effects of light and shade are analogous to those produced by contemporary Bohemian and Austrian artists. Indeed, De Caro has been confused with these painters, who were influenced by Piazzetta’s response to the art of Solimena.

Works in Naples

Works outside of Naples

  • Parish church of Piedimonte San Germano – Cassino : Painting of the Saint Bertario the martyr, painting of the invention of the cross, and painting of the Glory of Saint Germano ;
  • Convent of Saint Francis – Bracigliano : the Calvary ;
  • Convent of Pietrapertosa – : Paintings of Saint Rocco and of Our Lady of Sorrows
  • Church of Holy Mary “dell’Olivella” – Cassino : Painting of the Visitation of Mary ;
  • Museum of Coral, Sorrento: Rest on the flight into Egypt;
  • Sannio Museum – Benevento: Painting of the flight into Egypt;
  • National Gallery of Bologna: Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple ;
  • New York Gallery at Christie’s auction house, U.S.A.: Painting of Samuel anointing King David;
  • Museum Of Fine Arts – Boston, U.S.A.: Painting of the Triumph of David;
  • Institute Of Art – Detroit, U.S.A.: Paintings of Esther and Assuero and of the Adoration of the Golden Fleece;
  • Uffizi Gallery, Florence: Painting of Virtue;
  • Museum of Fine Arts – La Valletta : Painting of Saint Francis Xavier;
  • Museum of Solothurn : Paintings of the Education of the Virgin and the Adoration of the Magi;
  • Achille Della Ragione private collection – Naples,: Painting of the Decollation of a Saint;
  • Molinari Pradelli Collection – Marano di Castenaso, Bologna: Paintings of the grieving Virgin, of the Triumph of Judith, of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and of Saint Paul’s fall from a horse ;
  • Private Collection – Milan: Painting of the death of Abel;
  • Finarte Collection – Rome: Painting of Saint Francis de Sales preaching to the Salesians;
  • Private collection, Paris: Paintings of the Assumption of the Virgin, of the Resurrection of Christ and of the Ascension of Christ;
  • Private collection, Cantù : Painting of the Triumph of David and painting of the Triumph of Judith;
  • Private home in Naples: Painting of the Triumph of Judith ;
  • Antique market – Paris, France: Painting of the Allegory of spring;
  • Unknown location: Still life paintings of still life with heron and dog, of the Return of Saint Joseph’s brothers, of Saint Anthony Abbot ;
  • Private collection - Moscow : Still life painting with flowers and a view of the park
  • Castle of Pescolanciano : The decollation of Saint Alexander the Martyr
Lorenzo De Caro also carried out work at a number of other locations – both public buildings and private residences: Palace of the Governors of the Church of Saint Anna “Lombardi” on the Guantai road, De Stasio-Maiello home behind the Nunziatura church, De Simone-Coppola home in via Rosario di Palazzo, Comes- Cordosa home at Montecalvario, the home of the Marquis Sterlich on the Nardones street, home of Michele Aveta on the Chiaia bridge, home of Pietro Bozzoli at the Concordia area.
The work of the artist listed above, as well as other recent research, is proof of the fact that Lorenzo De Caro was Neapolitan, as were his forebears, and that he spent virtually his whole life in Naples. The only time he spent “beyond the city walls” would have been to carry out a certain number of commissioned works: in the province of Frosinone, at San Germano for paintings in the local cathedral in 1740 and for the church of the Virgin Mary dell’Olivella in S. Elia Fiumerapido. He went to Bracigliano in order to paint the frescoes of the Calvary on one of the walls of the cloister of the convent of Saint Francis.