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Dimensions: 36 5/8 by 32 3/4 in.; 93.1 by 83.2 cm.
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Literature: A. Percy, in Bernardino Cavallino of Naples 1616-1656, exhibition catalogue, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 14 - December 30, 1984, p. 110, under cat. nos. 30 & 31, reproduced p. 112, fig. 30-31d (as "Cavallino(?)")
N. Spinosa, La Pittura napoletano del '600, Naples 1984, illustrated no. 120.
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Notes: We are grateful to Prof. Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution to Cavallino based on firsthand inspection of the painting. The reappearance of this painting provides scholars with an exciting opportunity to reconfirm its attribution to Cavallino, which until now has only been given tentatively due to their being known only through photographs (see Percy and Spinosa, under Literature). The present work and the following depiction of St. Batholomew probably once belonged to a larger series of apostles or saints, much like Jusepe de Ribera is known to have painted, from which at least one other canvas is known (octagonal, 95 by 75 cm., location unknown; reproduced in Percy, op. cit., p. 112, fig. 30-31b). A fourth canvas showing Saint Peter, assumed by Percy to have belonged to the same series but in which the saint is shown with slightly different proportions to the picture space, was formerly in the collection of the Conde de Muguiro, Madrid (octagonal; Percy, op. cit., p. 112, reproduced fig. 30-31a). All these relate very closely to a pair of paintings, formerly with Trafalgar Galleries in London, which represent Saints Peter and Paul and which are significant for being the earliest known signed works by Cavallino (ibid., p. 110, cat. nos. 30 and 31, reproduced pp. 111 and 113). They are also octagonal but of slightly larger dimensions and therefore are unlikely to have formed part of the same series of apostles or saints as the present works. The use of marked chiaroscuro and the sharp lighting of the figures from the left, together with a solid handling of draperies that contrasts the more delicate brushwork of the skin tones and hair (best seen in Bartholomew's beard and in John's head and neck where there is least restoration), has led scholars to date the works to the early 1640s. Ribera's influence in their conception is undeniable and Cavallino would certainly have had firsthand knowledge of the former's series of apostles dating from the 1630s. The principal difference between the two artists' treatment of such a similar subject, however, is that Cavallino's saints are typically more contemplative than Ribera's and their presence is achieved through psychological tensions rather than through physical forcefulness.
