page_title: Cabal of Naples
section_title: Domenichino
hierarchical_section_title: Cabal of Naples / Domenichino
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Duomo di Napoli - Cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro (vista della cupola affreschi del Domenichino) English: Naples Cathedral - Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro (view of the dome frescoes painted by Domenichino)
context_page_description: The Cabal of Naples was a notorious triumvirate of painters in the city of Naples that operated during the early Baroque period from the late 1610s to the early 1640s. It was led by the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera, who had established himself in Naples after fleeing creditors in Rome in 1616, and also consisted of the Neapolitan Battistello Caracciolo and Greek Belisario Corenzio. Its primary goal was to prevent competition from artists from other parts of Italy, particularly the masters. Its activities often targeted the followers of Annibale Carracci, but also any artist not native to Naples. It involved the triumvirate in leading the painters of the city to harass, expel, or poison any non-native painter, and only ended with the death of Caracciolo in 1641.
context_section_description: Domenichino completed several frescoes in San Carlo ai Catinari by June 1630, and moved to Naples in November. Not long after he arrived, he received a death threat warning him to abandon the commission. He requested protection from the Viceroy of Naples, and despite assurances that he would be safe, rarely left his home except to work at the chapel or at the school he had opened. He would often arrive at the chapel for work to find the previous night's work had been rubbed out. He was so tormented by the cabal that in 1634 he fled to Frascati, not yet having completed the commission, and became a guest at Villa Aldobrandini, the villa of the Aldobrandini family. The representatives of the Naples Cathedral who had hired him did their utmost to convince Domenichino to return. Upon learning of Domenichino's flight from the city, the viceroy arrested his wife and daughter, who had remained in Naples, and sequestered his property. Domenichino returned to Naples in 1635 to continue his work on the cathedral, but by then no longer had the favour or protection of the viceroy. His wife and daughter were released upon his return. In 1637, he accepted a commission for nine frescoes for the chapel, and in 1640 he received payment for a work about the martyrdom of Saint Januarius.
  According to journal entries by Giovanni Battista Passeri, Domenichino feared that his meals would be poisoned, or that he would be stabbed. On 3 April 1641, he wrote a will; he died on 15 April after several days of illness. His widow was convinced he had been poisoned, and it was suspected that the cabal was responsible.
caption: Domenichino's frescoes in the dome of the Cappella del Tesoro
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