PAOLO DI MATTEIS Cilento, Naples (1662) / Naples, Italy (17

Oil on canvas. Provenance: - Madrid, Imperial College of San Pedro y San Pablo (until the early 19th century); Madrid, former Rodríguez de Rivas collection (c. 1936); Gijón, private collection. Bibliography: - Gutiérrez Pastor, I., “The series on the Life of Saint Francis Xavier from the Imperial College of Madrid (1692) and other paintings by Paolo de Matteis in Spain” Yearbook of the Department of History and Theory of Art, 2004, 16, pp. 91-112. The fame of the Neapolitan painter Paolo de Matteis transcended beyond the borders of Naples, with many of his works reaching Spain thanks to the protection given to him by Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis of Carpio. Examples of this are the paintings intended for the chapel and exteriors of the Casa de Campo in Madrid, a series partially preserved in the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, or the great pictorial cycle with passages from the life of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of the convent of the Poor Clares of Cocentaina, made between 1690 and 1696 by commission of Francisco Benavides, Count of Cocentaina and viceroy of Naples. Another relevant cycle destined for Spain was the execution, begun in 1692, of twenty-two large-format canvases representing the most notable passages of the life of Saint Francis Xavier, intended to adorn the walls of the cloister of the Colegio Imperial of Madrid, founded by the Society of Jesus. The 1767 inventory of the goods that were in the Imperial College still mentions the existence of this series in the lower cloister, describing the subjects of each of the canvases. The one presented here, which was part of that series, was registered as follows: “(18) Another, three varas high and one and two-thirds varas wide, and the inscription reads: Saint Francis Xavier calming a great storm by throwing a crucifix into the sea, a crab is returned to the shore. It was valued at 4,000 reales.” With the dispersal of the heritage of the Jesuit church of Madrid, the series was broken up and the canvases passed into private hands. Four of them are now in the cathedral of Córdoba, and a fifth, which belonged to Félix Huarte, is now preserved in the parish church of San Miguel Arcángel in Sarriá (Navarra). The photographic record of another canvas from this same series that was part of the former Tabuenca collection is also known. During the armed conflict of the Spanish Civil War, the canvas we present here was photographed by the Junta de Inquistación, Protección y Salvamento del Tesoro Artístico (Board for the Seizure, Protection, and Salvage of Artistic Treasures), when it was in the Rodríguez de Rivas collection. Within a space topped by a semicircular arch, Matteis represented one of the best-known miracles in the biography of Saint Francis Xavier. On a beach in the Moluccas, we see the saint crouching and extending his arms to receive from a crab the crucifix that he had lost during a sea crossing and that had been used to appease a storm. Beside him are his traveling companions and some natives with showy feather headdresses,all of them showing a gesture of surprise at the contemplation of said marvel. Measurements: 218 x 220 cm.