Nicola Vaccaro (1634/40-1709/17) Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Nicola Vaccaro was born in Naples in 1640, son of the painter Andrea Vaccaro, and began to take his first steps in his father's workshop. He was one of the artists who, in the second half of the seventeenth century, positioned himself as an alternative to the tendencies of Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena in the Neapolitan artistic environment. Read the full biography

Nicola Vaccaro was born in Naples in 1640, son of the painter Andrea Vaccaro, and began to take his first steps in his father's workshop. He was one of the artists who, in the second half of the seventeenth century, positioned himself as an alternative to the tendencies of Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena in the Neapolitan artistic environment. Vaccaro attempted to combine the traits of the seventeenth-century Neapolitan artistic tradition with the new classical and baroque trends of Arcadian orientation, creating his own academic style which wished to revitalize the figurative culture of Naples, overtaken by the new artistic currents of the Italian Baroque. He was a multifaceted figure who managed to express himself in different fields thanks to a modern sensitivity, open to the most current stimuli. His artistic production can be divided into works of religious commission and works of private commission, which demonstrate his artistic evolution, moving from formal and academic rigidity to compositional schemes based on the grace of gestures and the serenity of moods. In 1683 he became impresario of the public Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples, an activity he carried out with passion until 1689. His activity in the field of theater is inseparable from the rest of his artistic production and highlights his sensitivity to the cultural changes in Naples influenced by French culture .