The Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin

Solimena's Risen Christ Appearing to the Virgin, painted around 1708, depicts the apocryphal tradition that Christ first appeared to his mother after the Resurrection. Solimena was the dominant figure in Neapolitan painting at the turn of the eighteenth century, running a workshop that trained artists who carried his style throughout southern Europe. This work exemplifies his grand, theatrical approach to religious subjects that combined the dramatic lighting of his predecessors with a new elegance.

Solimena's composition creates a dramatic diagonal ascending from the kneeling Virgin to the triumphant Christ, bathed in supernatural light. The rich, warm palette and confident, fluid brushwork demonstrate his mastery of late Baroque religious painting at its most operatic.