The “Annunciation” in the church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli

The Annunciation of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli

A work restored to the light.

The Annunciation housed in the Church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli has been the object of a major restoration intervention, which has made it possible to recover the full legibility of the work and to enhance its pictorial and chromatic quality.

Executed around the middle of the seventeenth century, the work is today attributed to Francesco Guarino, one of the leading interpreters of seventeenth-century Neapolitan painting. The new attribution is the result of the investigations conducted during the restoration, which combined diagnostic analyses, the study of the pigments and historical-stylistic research.

In the past the painting had been attributed to Giacomo Del Po, but the most recent studies have highlighted significant affinities with the Annunciation realised by Guarino in 1642 for the Collegiata di Solofra (Avellino), commissioned by the Orsini family. The compositional, iconographic and pictorial analogies have strengthened the attribution to the master from Solofra, confirming his role in the spread of Baroque artistic culture in Campania.

The investigations also identified some later interventions dating from the nineteenth century, including the insertion of a heraldic coat of arms with an accompanying inscription, testimony to the historical events the work has passed through over the centuries.

A restoration between research and conservation

The intervention concerned both the painted surface and the canvas support, with the aim of restoring structural stability and enhancing the aesthetic quality of the painting.

The cleaning removed oxidised varnishes and surface deposits, bringing back to light the vivacity of the original palette and the refined effects of light typical of Francesco Guarino. The losses were reintegrated through careful pictorial retouching, in full accordance with the principles of conservative restoration.

The work also bore the marks of having previously been rolled on a roller, which had caused mechanical stress to the canvas and the consequent loss of the paint film along several bands. The consolidation of these areas has made it possible to recover the continuity of the painted surface.

At the direction of the Soprintendenza, a strip lining intervention (perimeter relining) was also carried out, which involved the replacement of the old deteriorated nails, the consolidation of the edges of the canvas and the restoration of the correct tension of the support, ensuring better conservation conditions over time.

The Annunciation according to Francesco Guarino

The composition depicts the moment of the Annunciation: the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary the conception of Jesus, while the Holy Spirit descends from above and, in the arched top, the figure of God the Father appears, following an iconographic scheme developed along a marked vertical axis.

In the angel’s hands a branch of white lilies (Lilium candidum) stands out, a traditional symbol of the Virgin’s purity in Christian culture. The whole scene interprets the Gospel narrative through a refined pictorial language, characterised by the balance between light, colour and composition, distinctive elements of Guarino’s production.