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Res. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, 
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 34:

FORMER INV. NOS.: 388 (M. 1796–97); 104 (F. 1798); 58 (M. 1804);
KM 31.

TECHNICAL NOTES: Labelled on verso (1) “Benefiali. Davidde e Saul. 
Mart. 58.”; (2) “Konglig Museum. Benefiolio. No 132.”. The support
is a thin, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric (22 × 24.5 threads/cm2).
It is mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. A
thin red ground covers the whole support. 
The paint layers are thin and the technique is sketchy, 
using a rather fluid paint. There is an
old repair at the lower right corner,
but otherwise the painting is in very good condition.

PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 2 (as Benefial); Sander 1872–76,
III, p. 98, no. 58 (as Benefial); Göthe 1887, p. 14 (as Benefial); NM
Cat. 1958, p. 13 (as Benefial, attributed to); NM Cat. 1990, p. 84 (as
Sebastiano Conca).

According to the 18th-century label placed on the
verso of the canvas of this oil sketch, the attribution
by Domenico Corvi, Stefano Tofanelli and
most likely Martelli himself had suggested Marco
Benefial (1684–1764) as the author.¹ In the mid
1960s it was re-attributed on stylistic grounds by
Anthony M. Clark to the Neapolitan artist Sebastiano
Conca, active in Rome at approximately
the same time as Benefial.

Although Clark’s attribution remains unquestioned,
the subject of the sketch represents a
problem to which it is possible to offer a solution
if we consider Conca’s career and overall oeuvre.
The 18th-century nomination “David and Saul”
is an unlikely one. The fact that Conca painted
several works featuring the Old Testament king
provides a clear view of how he treated this particular
iconography, showing David in full beard
and wearing a crown, details that are missing in
the present sketch.²

On the contrary, the evident military clothing
of the protagonists suggests a theme taken
from ancient Greek or Roman history, presumably
from the life of Alexander the Great,
a well-known theme to Conca. His best known
painting relating to this particular subject matter
is Alexander in the Temple of Jerusalem, a
commission that was part of a large series on
the deeds of Alexander the Great, conceived for
the Spanish King Philip V, at the Palacio de la
Granja in Segovia. Conca, who had declined to
move to Spain to join the team of artists working
on the cycle, nevertheless delivered the painting
in 1735.³ Another painting in which the artist
celebrated the life and deeds of the Macedonian
king is Alexander and Campapse before Apelles
(1715).⁴ This specific subject matter featured in the
libretto of Alessandro Scarlatti’s opera La Statira
(1690), whose author was Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni
(1667–1740).⁵ The cardinal’s love for all forms
of artistic expression was an important catalyst in
early 18th-century Rome, and his particular patronage
of Sebastiano Conca is well documented.⁶
All these factors underline a contextual predisposition
that reinforces the suggested subject matter
of the NM sketch.

In a catalogue of the Uffizi collection of artist
portraits, published in 1762, there is an interesting
mention of a further commission concerning the
Alexander theme:
Anche al Re di Polonia dipinse il Conca due quadri
esprimenti le azioni d’Alessandro, effigiandolo nel primo
quando doma il Bucefalo, e si presenta al Re Filippo
suo Padre, coll’accompagnamento di molt’altre figure al
natural, e coll’adornamento di magnifica architettura;
e dimostrando nell’altro lo sposalizio del medesimo con
Rossane figlia di Dario Re di Persia.⁷

Although the whereabouts of these paintings
remain unknown, their full description provides
valuable testimony, which is of interest in the
present case and permits the formulation of a
hypothesis. The NM sketch offers a rather conventional
composition focusing on a moment of
presentation between the protagonists. Formally,
it connects well with many other Conca paintings
of similar subjects, and in particular with The
Queen of Sheba before Solomon (c. 1753), a lost fresco
painting that was commissioned in 1752 by the
nuns of the Convent of Santa Chiara in Naples.⁸
The left part of this fresco, showing the
king on his drapery-covered throne and surrounded
by courtiers and allegorical figures as the
queen approaches, is, from a compositional point
of view, repeated in the NM sketch, though only
in its left part. As a contrast, the right part of the
lost fresco extends the narrative and permits the
painter to include elaborated architecture as well
as a significant number of figures.

The wide and symmetrical, yet turbulent,
composition of The Queen of Sheba before Solomon
compares well to the written description of
the lost painting of the young Alexander dominating
the headstrong horse Bucephalus and
eventually gaining his father’s praise – all set in a
scene with elaborate architecture and a numerous
crowd. Since the description of the motif clearly
states that the young heir presents himself to
his father after having dominated the horse, it is
possible to link the NM sketch to this particular
subject matter. Following this thought, it may be
assumed that the NM sketch represents a preliminary
stage of a larger bozzetto of a grander
composition – not only including the left part
where Alexander presents himself to the king
and symbolically offers himself and his courage
in his father’s service. If the assumption is correct,
the final study would have included a grand
architectural setting with a wondrous crowd and
the tame Bucephalus close by his dominator. The
hypothetical composition would have projected
a majestic and triumphant atmosphere that may
not be in perfect line with Plutarch’s version of
the story – clearly turbulent, passionate and full
of action – but it recollects very well its moral
sense. As Philip II is moved to tears by his son’s
bravery, he bursts out:

O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy
of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.⁹

In short, this means that Alexander has
been initiated into the bellicose world of grown
men and that his father sees him as a first-rate
conqueror presumptive. In the NM sketch the
military theme is evident. The figures close to the
throne hold a helmet and a sword, and Philip gestures
directly at the soldiers who surround him,
as well as pointing at an object that may represent
a suit of armour. Alexander’s courtly bow is elegantly
contrasted with his firm gaze towards his
father, which presumes a greater equality in their
relationship as a result of the taming of Bucephalus.
Thus, the motif summarizes a morality that
includes themes such as parental love and the
encouraging and challenging of the bold.
The sketch’s style, hasty and fluent, yet precise in
terms of detail and composition, places it shortly
after the Spanish commission and thus in the
years 1735–40.

A wider market for bozzetti in 18th-century
Rome would have made it easier for Martelli to
acquire the sketch. The format and the reduced
composition with a subject hard to identify must
have been appealing on the market for medium-
sized works, where its courtly atmosphere
could inspire many possible readings.
SNE

1 The attribution is confirmed in the earliest inventory of the
Martelli Collection. Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à
Rome), no. 104.
2 “Il trasporto dell’Arca santa”, c. 1733–38, Palazzo Reale,
Torino, quoted in Macco et al. 1981, cat. no, 69; “Davide”,
whereabouts unknown, Macco et al. 1981, cat. no. 114 a.
3 The painting is still in the collection at the Royal Palace at
Segovia. For the existing preparatory sketches, see Macco
et al. 1981, cat. nos. 65a, 65b, 66.
4 In 1981 the painting was part of the Mostyn-Owen
Collection in London, Macco et al. 1981, p. 413 and cat. no.
13 a.
5 Boyd 1970, pp. 495–497.
6 Olszewski 2000, pp. 139–165.
7 “For the Polish king, too, Conca painted two works with
the deeds of Alexander, the first showing him when he
tames Bucephalus and then presents himself to King Philip
his father, accompanied by many other figures and adorned
by magnificent architecture; and the other one showing the
marriage of the very same to Roxana, daughter of Darius,
King of Persia.” Museo fiorentino che contiene i ritratti dé
pittori... (Stamperia Francesco Moücke), Florence, 1762, vol.
IV, here quoted from Macco et al. 1981, pp. 405–406. The
Polish king who commissioned the paintings was either
Stanisław Leszczyński, who reigned 1733–36, or Augustus
III, who reigned 1734–36, the overlapping dates due to the
power struggle that occurred in Poland during this period.
It is likely, however, that the commission was given after
the Spanish painting was delivered in 1735.
8 Macco et al. 1981, cat. no. 122 b.
9 Dryden and Hugh Clough 1971, p. 808.
[End]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2010

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2012

Titel (sv): David och Saul. Skiss
Titel (en): David and Saul. Study
Titel (en): Alexander the Great before his Father King Philip II (?), sketch, 1730s