Matthias Stom[er]
BIOGRAPHY
Amersfoort?, c. 1600 - post 1649
1 For a detailed summary of the painter’s career see E. Nencini, ‘Matthias Stom(er). Percorso critico’, in S. Danesi Squarzina, «fiamenghi che vanno e vengono non li si puol dar regola». Paesi Bassi e Italia fra Cinquecento e Seicento: pittura, storia e cultura degli emblemi, ed. Irene Baldriga, Roma 2000, pp. 194-203; and A. Zalapì, ‘Matthias Stom’, in Dipinti caravaggeschi nelle raccolte bergamasche, exh. cat. (Bergamo, 2000), eds. E. De Pascale and F. Rossi, Bergamo 2000, pp. 83-88. 2 See B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, second edition revised and enlarged by L. Vertova, 3 vols., Torino 1990, I, pp. 179-188. 3 G. J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven [Dutch artists in Rome (1600-1725). Extracts from the parish archives], s’ Gravenhage 1942, p. 279, note 2. 4 See Alla ricerca di “Ghiongrat”. Studi sui libri parrocchiali romani (1600-1630), ed. Rossella Vodret, Roma 2012, p. 436, no. 1592, for the hypothetical identification of the painter with the “Mattia Strozzer todesco” living in the parish of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte in that year. 5 See M. G. Mazzola, ‘Matthias Stomer a Palermo: alcuni inediti per la sua biografia’, Storia dell’arte, 89, 1997, pp. 67-73. 6 See E. Celentano da Napoli, Memorie storiche cronologiche attenenti a’ FF. Minori Cappuccini della Provincia di Napoli… Tomo I (c. 1750), ed. F. F. Mastroianni, Napoli 1988, p. 668. 7 See B. De Dominici, Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, 3 vols., Napoli 1742-1743, III, p. 155; O. Giannone, Giunte sulle vite de’ pittori napoletani (1771-73), ed. O. Morisani, Napoli 1941, p. 63. 8 See A. Zalapì, op. cit. (note 1), cat. nos. 8-9, pp. 58-65.
9 S. Bottari, ‘Aggiunte al Manfredi, al Renieri e allo Stomer’, Arte Antica e Moderna, XXIX, 1965, p. 59, pl. 23b, as Stom. B. Nicolson, ‘Stomer Brought Up-to-Date’, The Burlington Magazine, CXIX, 1977, p. 234, note 16, as circle of Manfredi-Valentin, by the same author of the painting in Venezia. 10 Inv. 62. The painting, always considered a secondary work in Valentin’s oeuvre, has been lately attributed to the French painter himself by G. Papi, ‘Postille ai dipinti in mostra al “Genio degli anonimi”’, in Caravaggio e l’Europa. L’artista, la storia, la tecnica e la sua eredità, ed. L. Spezzaferro, Milano 2009, pp. 224 and 282, fig. 212. 11 See A. Zalapì, ‘Il soggiorno siciliano di Matthias Stom tra neostoicismo e “dissenso”. Nuove acquisizioni documentarie sull’ambiente artistico straniero a Palermo’, in Porto di mare, 1570-1670. Pittori e pittura a Palermo tra memoria e recupero, exh. cat. (Palermo-Roma, 1999-2000), ed. V. Abbate, Napoli 1999, pp. 147-157. 12 See L. Moretti, ‘Antonio Stom’, in Canaletto. Venezia e i suoi splendori, exh. cat. (Treviso, 2008-2009), eds. G. Pavanello and A. Craievich, Venezia 2008, pp. 114-115. 13 See P. A. Orlandi, L’Abcedario Pittorico dall’autore ristampato corretto et accresciuto…, Bologna 1719, pp. 318-319.
73 Matthias Stom[er]
Matthias Stomer (or more correctly “Stom”, which is the name used by the artist himself and in the documents, where we can also find “Matteo”) is probably the most authentic exponent of Caravaggism on an international scale, and without doubt its most tireless continuator: in the first half of the 17th century he was active in the Netherlands, Rome, Naples, Sicily and Northern Italy.1 However, despite his leading role in this movement regarding quality and quantity, acknowledged also by Benedict Nicolson in his catalogue,2 his personal data is still scanty and uncertain. According to the information in the Roman parish registers, Stom was born around 1600 in Amersfoort, near Utrecht;3 he is attested in Rome from 1630 (less likely 1625)4 to 1632, and then in Palermo from January 1640,5 though he had probably been living there since 1638-1639. The idea that he stayed in Naples between these two periods is based chiefly on the large number of his paintings in this city, the most important of which are documented from 1635 onwards in the church of Sant’Efremo Nuovo (now in Capodimonte).6 This hypothesis is confirmed by stylistic factors and above all by the 18th century testimonies of Bernardo De Dominici and Onofrio Giannone, who refer to Domenico Viola and Giacomo Manecchia as his Neapolitan followers.7 It is actually quite difficult to outline the evolution of Stom’s language, also because of the strong homogeneity of style in his oeuvre. The only exception is a compact group of particularly elegant paintings, that can be connected to his Roman and earliest phase thanks to the evident influence of Baburen, Honthorst and Valentin: the most memorable is the pair of canvases with Daedalus fixing the wings on Icarus and Tobias healing his father’s blindness, from the Scotti collection,8 that should be, in my opinion, associated with the two Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, formerly in the Gargallo collection in Syracuse9 and in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.10 The rest of his Southern Italian production, which combines ‘candle-light nocturnal scenes’ with coarse Riberesque realism, appears easier to define. Unquestionable cornerstones of Stom’s stay in Sicily are the Miracle of Saint Isidor Agricola, signed and dated 1641, today in the church of San Giorgio Martire in Caccamo; the Adoration of the Shepherds now in the Complesso Monumentale “Guglielmo II” in Monreale, donated to the local convent between 1646 and 1648; several canvases - such as the Death of Cato, identified with the painting in the Museo Civico del Castello Ursino in Catania - purchased by Antonio Ruffo between 1646 and 1649 for his personal picture gallery.11 The duration of the Sicilian phase and the chronology of Stom’s last activity will now need to be reviewed however, in the light of a recent, important archival discovery, that has yet to be acknowledged and verified by scholars. These new documents reveal that the children of “pictor fiamengo” Matthias Stom and of his companion Vincenza di Pietro (“Vicenza de Petro”), i.e. the illegitimate twins “Mattio” and “Zuanna”, and “Zuanne”, were baptized in Venice in July 1643 and March 1645.12 This also confirms the idea that Stom had travelled to Northern Italy, which had already been suggested by the presence of a substantial number of his works in the area of Bergamo. The Dutch painter was therefore the forefather of a family of vedutisti (landscape painters) of the same name, active in Veneto in the 17th and 18th centuries, in accordance with what is said in Orlandi’s Abcedario under the entry for Matteo Stom, landscape and battle painter.13 At the moment it is not possible to add anything more to this unexpected development: research is still ongoing.