(b Naples, 1607; d Naples, 1656). Italian painter and draughtsman. He trained briefly with Jusepe de Ribera, the Caravaggesque Spanish painter. He quickly won fame as a specialist in scenes of battle, and his contemporaries nicknamed him the ‘oracle’ of this genre. Falcone created the ‘battle scene without a hero’ (Saxl): he showed the battle as a brutal, confused struggle between anonymous troops, without heroes, without defeats and without particular historical incidents. The Battle between Turks and Christians (1621; Paris, Louvre; see fig.) is one of the earliest. The frieze-like composition is elaborately structured, yet the picture is rich in intensely naturalistic, vividly coloured details of armour and weapons and precisely observed expressions of anger and pain. The famous dealer and collector Gaspar Roomer and other Neapolitan collectors commissioned many battle pictures from him, and these were soon introduced throughout Europe. He was especially favoured by Ferrante Spinelli, Prince of Tarsia, who gave Falcone a residence in his palace after 1651. The genre was developed by artists in his workshop: Micco Spadaro, Marzio Masturzio, Carlo Coppola ( fl 1640–60), Andrea di Lione and Salvator Rosa.

• Falcone, Aniello
  • Falcone, Andrea
  • Italy, §III, 5(iii): Baroque and Rococo painting, c 1600–c 1750: Naples
  • Naples, §II, 3: Art life and organization, c 1600–c 1700
  • assistants
    • Porpora, Paolo
  • attributions
    • Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists, §I: Master of the Palazzo S Gervasio
  • collaboration
    • Forte, Luca
  • patrons and collectors
    • Einden, van den
    • Monterrey, 6th Conde de
  • pupils
    • Cavallino, Bernardo, §1(i): Probable training and early works, c 1630–early 1640s
    • Lione, Andrea di
    • Rosa, Salvator, §1(i): Naples and Rome, to 1640
    • Spadaro, Micco
  • works
    • Battle pictures and military scenes, §2(i): The 17th century to the late 18th: Land warfare