Giovan Battista Beinaschi

(Fossano 1636–1688 Naples)
Saint John the Baptist,
oil on canvas, 197 x 147.5 cm, framed
Provenance:
European Aristocratic collection

We are grateful to Francesco Petrucci for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The composition illustrates the episode of Saint John the Baptist preaching in the desert, narrated in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The saint is portrayed bare-chested and covered by a red cloak, unlike the Gospel narration which describes him as dressed in camel hair with a leather belt. He is depicted seated on a rock accompanied by his traditional attribute of the lamb, with some figures intently listening to him.

This previously unpublished work relates to Beinaschi’s fresco in the lunette of the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Pizzofalcone, Naples, painted between 1668 and 1673 (see V. Pacelli, F. Petrucci [eds.], Giovanni Battista Pacelli pittore Barocco tra Roma e Napoli, Rome 2011, pp. 239–240, cat. no. A11). Here, as in the Neapolitan fresco, Beinaschi depicts Saint John the Baptist with an outstretched arm and the figure of the elderly woman with a pronounced physionomy, with clasped hands on the right, this figure appears in both the present painting and the fresco, however the background elements differ.

The inspiration for the figure of the Baptist also relates to Domenichino’s fresco in the entrance arch of Sant’Andrea della Valle, Rome, depicting Saint John pointing out Jesus to Saint Andrew and Saint John, from which Beinaschi also seems to have taken the idea of the figure in the background. Further proof of the painter’s continuous study of the Sant’Andrea della Valle model is a drawing in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 6339), in which Beinaschi uses the pose of Domenichino’s Baptist for the representation of an angel. This is further documented by the Neapolitan biographer Lione Pascoli, according to whom Pietro del Po’, Beinaschi’s teacher, advised him to visit the church of Sant’Andrea to examine its frescoes (see F. Petrucci, ibid. 2011, p. 36). The present work can be dated to the painter’s first stay in Naples, reflecting the influence of Giovanni Lanfranco and Mattia Preti.

After an initial apprenticeship in his Piedmontese hometown, Beinaschi moved to Rome around 1650, where he was a pupil of Pietro del Po’ and from 1663 on of Giovanni Lanfranco in Naples. Beinaschi worked successfully in fresco and easel painting, as he was commissioned by both religious and private patrons, becoming one of the most sought-after artists of his time.