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

Oil on canvas. Provenance: Madrid, Colegio Imperial of San Pedro y San Pablo (until the early 19th century); Madrid, former Rodriguez de Rivas collection (c. 1936); Gijon, private collection. Literature: GUTIERREZ PASTOR, I., “La serie de la Vida de San Francisco Javier del Colegio Imperial de Madrid (1692) y otras pinturas de Paolo de Matteis en España”, Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoria del Arte, 2004, 16, pp. 91-112. The fame of the Neapolitan painter Paolo de Matteis extended far beyond the borders of Naples. Many of his works reached Spain thanks to the patronage of Gaspar de Haro y Guzman, Marquis of Carpio. Examples include the paintings destined for the chapel and overdoors of the Casa de Campo in Madrid, a series now partially preserved at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, as well as the large pictorial cycle depicting scenes from the lives of San Francis and San Clare in the Convent of the Poor Clares in Cocentaina, executed between 1690 and 1696 on the commission of Francisco Benavides, Count of Cocentaina and Viceroy of Naples. Another important cycle produced for Spain was begun in 1692, consisting of twenty-two large canvases illustrating the most significant episodes from the life of San Francis Xavier, intended to decorate the walls of the cloister of the Colegio Imperial in Madrid, founded by the Society of Jesus. The inventory of 1767 recording the assets of the Colegio Imperial still mentioned the presence of this series in the lower cloister, describing the subject of each canvas. The present work, which formed part of that series, was recorded as follows: “(18) Another, three varas high and one and two-thirds varas wide, whose cartouche states its subject: Having St Francis Xavier calmed a great storm by throwing a crucifix into the sea, it is returned to the shore by a crab. Valued at 4,000 reales.” With the dispersal of the property belonging to the Jesuit church in Madrid, the series was broken up and the canvases passed into private hands. Four of them are now in the Cathedral of Cordoba, while a fifth, formerly in the collection of Felix Huarte, is today preserved in the parish church of San Miguel Arcangel in Sarria (Navarra). A photographic record also survives of another canvas from the same series that once belonged to the Tabuenca collection. During the Spanish Civil War, the present painting was photographed by the Junta de Incautacion, Proteccion y Salvamento del Tesoro Artistico while it was in the Rodriguez de Rivas collection. Within a space framed by a semicircular arch, Matteis depicted one of the best-known miracles from the life of San Francis Xavier. On a beach in the Moluccas, the saint is shown kneeling and extending his arms to receive from a crab the crucifix he had lost during a sea voyage and had previously used to calm a storm. Beside him stand his travelling companions and several indigenous figures wearing striking feathered headdresses, all displaying expressions of astonishment at the miraculous event. Measurements: 218 × 220 cm.