Lot n° 16
Estimation :
40000 - 60000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 64 500EUR
*Mathias STOM (Amersfoot 1600 - in Sicily... - Lot 16 - L'Huillier & Associés
*Mathias STOM (Amersfoot 1600 - in Sicily ? after 1650)
Mucius Scaevolla before Porsenna
Canvas (old restorations)
102 x 118.5 cm
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Provenance:
- Sale in Paris, Espace Tajan, 16 December 2008, n°19
- Sale in Paris, PIASA, 3 December 2014, N° 1287
- Collection of Mr and Mrs Gagliardi.
In 507 BC, as the Etruscan king Porsenna laid siege to Rome in order to restore Tarquin to the throne of Rome,
the young patrician Mucius broke into the enemy camp on his own initiative. He decided to assassinate the king,
but makes a mistake and stabs his scribe (pictured below left). Taken prisoner, he holds out his right hand
into the fire to show his contempt for the torture he is threatened with. By this gesture of bravery, the Roman hero
also wants to punish, by burning it, his hand which has the wrong victim, only the left one remains. Very impressed
by his courage, the king lets Mucius go and he acquires the cognomen of Scaevola, "the left-handed". Thanks to him,
Porsenna makes peace proposals to the Romans and leaves Latium with his army.
Two other different, larger compositions of this subject are known by Stom (formerly called
Stomer). One is in the Art Gallery of South Wales, Sydney (canvas, 152 x 206 cm) and the other in the Museo
Nazionale in Messina (canvas, 208 x 260 cm). Our painting is close to the one in Sidney, in the general layout
of the figures or in the rendering of the luminosity under the tent, even if we perceive here an opening towards the outside.
The lighting is less brutal and contrasted than in those of the Sicilian period (The Death of Cato or The
Death of Seneca). We propose that our painting dates from the Neapolitan period of the 1630s.
Probably trained in Utrecht, then perhaps in Antwerp with Abraham Janssens, an intimate of the group of painters
painters, especially Gerrit Van Honthorst, Matthias Stom is documented in Rome where his
name appears in the parish register of San Nicola in Arcione, sharing a flat with Paulus Bor.
After a prolific stay in Naples, where he received numerous commissions for churches and private individuals,
Stom leaves for Sicily, to Palermo and Messina. He sends several works to Malta. Thus, he follows the path of the
Caravaggio, whose brief presence in southern Italy left a lasting impression. This painting
is listed in the RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie) under n°209100.
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