SEBASTIANO

CONCA (1679-1764)  , Italian painter of the Florentine school, was born at Gaeta, and studied at Naples under Francesco Solimena . In 1706, along with his brother Giovanni, who acted as his assistant, he settled at Rome, where for several years he worked in chalk only, to improve his drawing . He was patronized by the Cardinal Ottoboni, who introduced him to Clement XI.; and a Jeremiah painted in the church of St John Lateran was rewarded by the pope with knighthood and by the cardinal with a diamond cross . His fame grew quickly, and he received the patronage of most of the crowned heads of Europe . He painted till near the day of his death, and left behind him an immense number of pictures, mostly of a brilliant and showy kind, which are distributed among the churches of Italy . Of these the Probatica, or Pool of Siloam, in the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, at Siena, is considered the finest .