Andrea D’Aste
Bagnoli Irpino (Avellino), 1673-Naples, 1721
St. Michael, St. Bruno, and St. Louis of Toulouse (?), after ca. 1709
Oil on canvas.
A monumental composition, but small in scale and swift in execution, this painting was a study in the preparation of decorative projects during the period. The sharp lighting, inky shadow and iridescent color are characteristic of Neapolitan painting in the wake of Francesco Solimena, the school’s leading figure in the late eighteenth century and D’Aste’s principal influence. At the same time, the painting’s emphatic diagonal structure echoes that of contemporary altarpieces in Rome, where D’Aste worked between 1707 and 1709.