Nicolò Porta


Nicola or Niccolò Porta was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period.

Life

He was born and active in Molfetta. He was born to Saverio Porta, the first mentor of Corrado Giaquinto. Nicolo spent some years training with a cousin Giuseppe, but then moved to Rome to work for nearly a decade in the studio of Giaquinto. He was likely employed in the decoration of the Roman churches of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in 1744, and San Nicola dei Lorenesi in 1746. He was very active painting sacred subjects for churches in the region, including for Altamura, Andria, Bari, Bisceglie, Bitonto, Modugno e Nardò.

''Sant'Antonio Abate''

One of the works recently attributed to the painter Nicola Porta is the painting stored in the museum Archivio Biblioteca Museo Civico in Altamura and named Sant'Antonio Abate. In 1985-1986, it had already been attributed to Nicola Porta by Maria Giovanna Di Capua, but at that time no evidence was found that supported this hypothesis. In 2019, after a careful analysis of the ""registro di amministrazione" relating to Altamura Cathedral, it turned out that "Sign. Nicolo Porta" on 14 June 1755 had been paid 10 ducats for the painting Sant'Antonio Abate. This painting is almost certainly the one that is now stored in the Archivio Biblioteca Museo Civico in Altamura.
The above discovery was carried out after a careful analysis of the "registro di amministrazione of the "capitolo dell'Assunta". At that time, the "registri di amministrazione" were some kind of accounting document where expenses, income and any other money transfer were recorded in chronological order. The "capitolo dell'Asssunta" was nothing more than a kind of board of directors made up of the clergy of Altamura and it had to take care of the economic and cultural assets of the cathedral. Because of the heterogeneity and the huge amount of information stored in the "registri di amministrazione", the information about the above payment had not been found until 2019.
As for its original location, it's been suggested that the painting was perhaps located inside Altamura Cathedral. More precisely, a likely location would be the chapel of Saint Anthony the Great inside the cathedral, a chapel that no longer exists and perhaps located near the choir. A work that was certainly present in the chapel was a statue of Saint Anthony the Great which is probably the one currently stored at the Museo Diocesano Matronei Altamura.

Works