The Holy Trinity with St Philip Neri in Glory

The Holy Trinity with St Philip Neri in Glory (1728, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) celebrates Philip Neri (1515–1595), founder of the Oratorian order and one of the most beloved figures of the Counter-Reformation, known as the Apostle of Rome for his joyful, music-centered spirituality. Canonized in 1622, Philip Neri remained a vital devotional figure in the eighteenth century, and glory compositions showing him received into divine presence were common Oratorian commissions. By 1728 Solimena was in his early seventies and his style had evolved considerably toward the lighter, more elegant Rococo-inflected manner of his final decades, while retaining the fundamental Baroque spatial drama of his training.

The late Solimena handling in 1728 shows a lighter touch than his 1690s work, with more luminous flesh tones and a less insistently dark background. The Trinity in glory above Philip Neri allows the full range of Solimena's celestial light painting, from cool radiance around divine figures to warmer tones in the saint's flesh.