Resumen de Francesco De Mura nella Santissima Annunziata di Capua (con qualque cenno di fortuna critica)
The essay investigates the work of Francesco de Mura in the church of Santissima Annunziata in Capua. De Mura painted three great pictures there: the "Annunciation" for the high altar and the "Visitation" and the "Last Supper" for the side altars. This study considers archival documents on the commission, dating from 1747, when the painter was working on the decoration (lost) in Santa Chiara at Naples. It also takes into account later testimony by foreign travelers: first among them are timely remarks of the Frenchman Charles-Nicolas Cochin in his "Voyage d'Italie" (1758 edition). In particular, the enormous "Annunciation" awakened curiosity by the presence of iconographic details that gave the scene an unusual air, nearly 'domestic'. This research will hint at aspects of the critical history of the Capua works -and in general those by De Mura from the middle of the eighteenth century- in spite of the substantial lack of attention on him in modern studies
