The Anchorite

1650 · Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

religious

Once attributed to Mattia Preti, this canvas was subsequently given to Paolo Finoglia and then to Aniello Falcone. Judged to be one of the most effective of Falcone's works, this painting relates to the portraiture of Velázquez, with which it shares an emotive intensity connected to the youthful works of the Spanish master. The most interesting characteristic of The Anchorite is the tightly cropped composition of the painting, calculated to enhance the solemnity of the monk's figure.

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About the Artist

Aniello Falcone

1607 – 1656

Neapolitan painter. He was one of the most prominent artists in Naples in the generation before the plague of 1656 (in which he died), and did religious paintings, some in fresco, for several churches in the city. His only complete surviving fresco cycle, however, is the History of Moses in the Villa Roomer at Barra, and he is now remembered mainly as the first specialist in battle pieces, a genre that won him an international reputation and in which he inspired his pupil Salvator Rosa. Falcone was also an outstanding draughtsman.

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