Born in Monreale, the painter Pietro Novelli was trained in his home region and at first was influenced by the Sicilian pictures by Caravaggio. He further developed his style by studying the paintings of Van Dyck available to him in Sicily and after a stay in Naples also incorporated influences from Ribera. Pietro Novelli, who came from a family of Sicilian painters, worked predominantly in and around Palermo, although in later life he also undertook commissions in Rome.

The importance of Pietro Novelli in the development of South Italian painting, climaxing with the works of Cavallino, Carracciolo, Luca Giordano and Matía Preti, has only recently been acknowledged. Early on in his career...