Un nuovo ‘San Michele’ del Cavalier d’Arpino: il percorso di un' invenzione da Roma a Macerata, e da Macerata a Gragnano

The paper deals with the identification of a Saint Michael the Archangel by Giuseppe Cesari, Cavaliere d’Arpino (Arpino 1568 – Roma 1640). It was found in the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Gragnano, near Naples. The work is almost certainly the “cartoon” presented by the painter prior to the laying of Giovan Battista Calandra’s first micromosaic as an altarpiece in St Peter’s Basilica. The painting may have been part of the Barberini Collection in Rome. It was intended for the main altar of the church in the Franciscan monastery of Saint Michael the Archangel al Trivione in Gragnano. It’s not clear when it arrived at the monastery, but it may have been thanks to the Cardinal of Naples, Ascanio Filomarino. The cardinal had been tied to the Barberini family, and subsequently the Franciscan order, ever since his early days as a prelate in Rome