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Res. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, 
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 7:

FORMER INV. NOS.: 145 (M. 1796–97); 21 (F. 1798); 420 (M. 1804); KM 463.

PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. (as Benedetto Luti); 
Sander 1872–76, III, p. 133, no. 419 (as Benedetto Luti); 
Göthe 1887, p. 143 (as Benedetto Luti, attributed to); 
Macco et al. 1981, pp. 416–417; Clark 1981, p. 6, fig. 12;
NM Cat. 1990, p. 84 (as Sebastiano Conca).

This canvas, attributed to Sebastiano Conca by 
Antony Morris Clark in the 1980s and never considered
again by that critic, is an important addition to Marco 
Benefial’s oeuvre: the new attribution to that artist, based
on stylistic evidence, is confirmed by a preparatory
drawing for the drapery of the angel at the top left of the 
canvas and for the two allegorical figures.¹ The work is 
characterized by a pathos as well as a realism that is 
rarely found in contemporary Roman painting: the scene
is set on sloping ground, like the stage of a theatre – an 
approach typical of Benefial in this kind of representation
– and captures the characters in a passionate dialogue of 
gestures and looks. The depiction is ordered by diagonals: 
the rendering of the space is highly complex, with a 
perspective that extends beyond the limits of the picture, 
giving a sense of magniloquence and grandeur. The fluidity 
of the brushstrokes and the rapidity in the depiction of 
details suggest that this painting is a modello for a larger
work, yet to be discovered.² St Catherine is the protagonist
of the image: she is persuading the Pope to return to Rome
to end the “Avignon Papacy” (the period when Avignon was
the capital of the papal state); the Eternal City appears 
as a vision on the horizon.³ The Holy Spirit also appears 
from the clouds, surrounded by angels, symbolizing the
divine inspiration of the saint’s proposal. Gregory XI, 
marked by finely characterized features, is portrayed with
a hand on his chest, looking down, in the act of making
a solemn resolution before the cardinals in the background, 
who are also incisively characterized (which is never the
case in Sebastiano Conca’s oeuvre, where we find a more
idealized rendering of facial features). Clark suggests that 
two of these figures, behind the Pope, can be identified as
Anton Felice Zondadari and Melchior de Polignac.⁴ 
A crowd of people is trying to enter the palace, and an 
allegorical depiction (possibly to be identified as Wisdom 
overcoming Ignorance) closes the image to the left.⁵ 
The result is a very original illustration of this important 
event both in the life of St Catherine and in the history 
of the Church: Marco Benefial, as always in his work, 
does not depict it as a history far off in time and space 
and distant from the spectator, but in a more familiar way, 
as a sort of tranche de vie, as if Gregory XI’s solemn 
decision is being taken before our very eyes and the 
scene is being played out as we look at 
the picture. Benefial thus treats a religious painting
as a historical one, with an absolutely modern idiom,
inviting people to re-experience the event depicted, which
speaks to both the intellect and the heart. This outcome
is surprising, given the rarity of the subject and the
few precedents that the artist could have drawn on as 
examples: apart from a Francesco Vanni painting
 – preparatory to images in a volume on the saint’s 
life – and an engraving by Bernard Van Rantwick, only a
painting by Sebastiano Conca, which we can date to 1731, 
has the same subject.⁶ The canvas now in Stockholm is 
probably earlier, and may be dated around 1720: a 
comparison with The Vision of St Philip Neri (1721, Cambridge, 
Fitzwilliam Museum) is enlightening for the detail of the 
people in the background – some faces are almost the
same as in the Stockholm canvas – and that of the 
celestial glory, where both the robust proportions
and the distinguished facial features bring the divine 
apparitions to life.⁷ In addition, the elongated and animated
folds of the drapery and the slender proportions of the 
figures, such as those of St Catherine and the Pope, 
as well as the brushwork in the rendering of the angels’ hair, 
recall very closely works such as San Saturnino rifiuta di 
adorare il simulacro di Apollo (1716, Rome, 
Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo) or L’Addolorata con gli
angeli che reggono gli strumenti della passione (1721, Rome, 
Convent of Santa Maria dei Sette dolori), 
confirming once again the proposed chronology.⁸
AA

1 Clark 1981, p. 6, fig. 12. A photograph of the preparatory
drawing, with no reference to its location, is to be found in
the photographic archive of Giorgio Falcidia. I am most
grateful to Liliana Barroero, who gave me the opportunity
to consult the photographs. Regarding Marco Benefial, the
most recent and important bibliographical references are:
Barroero 2005, and the following articles: Agresti 2007;
Van Dooren 2008; Celeste Cola 2012.
2 Clark considered the picture preparatory to Sebastiano
Conca’s altarpiece of the same subject, now in the house of
St Catherine of Siena. That work differs in many ways from
the Stockholm canvas, and is also chronologically later, as I
will demonstrate.
3 For a description of the event, see Jungmayr 2004, vol. I,
pp. 218 ff.; for the historical importance of the end of the
“Avignon Papacy” (and its reflections in the pictorial art of
the period), see Bianco 2001, in particular the essays of
Cavallini 2001, pp. 1–12; Nardi 2001, pp. 49–66; Giunta
2001, pp. 119–149.
4 This hypothesis is still credible, in spite of the changed
attribution: Benefial painted numerous rooms in the
Chigi-Zondadari Palace in Siena in the fourth decade of
the 18th century, undertaking the most significant part of
that work. For reasons still unknown, the artist could have
met Anton Felice Zondadari some years before starting on
the decoration of the palace.
5 Wisdom wears a crown of laurel (symbol of culture and
power) and a torch (symbol of enlightenment), while the
second allegorical figure covers her ears (to indicate her
rejection of teaching and knowledge).
6 For the iconography of the saint, see Bianchi and Giunta
1988. See also the articles mentioned in note 1; Catherine de
Sienne, exh. cat., 1992, pp. 228, 282.
7 Barroero 2000, pp. 321–322.
8 Barroero 2005, pp. 10–11, figs.
[end]

Titel (sv): Sankta Katarina söker övertala påven att flytta från Avignon till Rom
Titel (en): St Catherine Imploring Gregory XI to Return from Avignon
Tidigare: St Catherine Trying to persuade the Pope to move from Avignon to Rome