AGOSTINO SCILLA

  2. Result
  3. AGOSTINO SCILLA
  4. Lot n° 35 
Lot n° 35
Go to lot
Estimation :
12000 - 15000 EUR
AGOSTINO SCILLA
Saint Jerome Oil on canvas 167 x 109 cm Saint Jerome Oil on panel, 65,8 x 43 in. Agostino Scilla, at once painter, naturalist, philosopher, poet, antique dealer and numismatist, was the most famous painter of the second half of the 17th century in Messina. Unfortunately, the great earthquake of 1908 in Messina destroyed many of his works. He was first a pupil in Messina of Antonio Alberti, then in Rome of Andrea Sacchi. On his return to his home town in 1651 he worked in particular for Prince Don Antonio Ruffo, who commissioned him to paint Esther and Ahasuerus and Rebekah at the Well (Messina, Museo Regionale; ca. 1667-1671). The Museo Regionale of Messina also preserves the wonderful Saint Hilarion in the arms of death (1667), of Caravaggio inspiration, in dark colours and set in a desolate landscape; Saint Benedict ordering the destruction of the idols, which stands out for the expressiveness and realism of the saint and the figure in the foreground (c. 1660); St. Gaetano praying before the Virgin (signed and dated 1671), where the influence of Roman models, especially Maratta, can be seen in the smiling and gentle image of the Virgin and Child; St. Ursula and her companions, a youthful work painted in collaboration with Fulco and Catalano; a St. John the Evangelist; The Virgin, St. John and the Magdalene at the foot of the cross and a series of still lifes. His commissions, however, also came from many other cities, so that the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia in Palermo houses Thalie crowns Epicharm (signed and dated 167 [1]), a painting with a romantic flavour influenced by Ribera, and the church of the Collegio di Caltanissetta a Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, signed and dated 1654. In Syracuse he decorated with frescoes, unfortunately very restored, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament of the Cathedral (1657) and San Domenico. He also worked for the Carthusian monastery of San Bruno in Calabria and in Syracuse for the monastery chur
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue