CONCA, SEBASTIANO. - Painter, born in Gaeta on 8 January 1679 (or, according to others, 1676 or 1680) and died in Naples in 1764. A pupil in Naples of Solimena, he in turn ran a school in Rome, where from 1706 he carried out most of his work and brought the manner of his master. Here, however, especially in contact with the art of Maratta, his painting often cooled into a search for academic perfection, towards which he was driven also by the criticisms levelled at him for the incorrectness of his drawing.
In Rome he worked extensively, receiving commissions even from Philip V of Spain, the sovereigns of Poland, Portugal, Sardinia and the Archbishop of Cologne, as well as from Pope Clement XI. Admitted to the Accademia di S. Luca in 1719 (of which he was president in 1729-32 and 1739-41), in 1725 he was admired for the decoration of the ceiling of S. Cecilia in Trastevere; but his greatest glory came from the other ceiling he frescoed after his return to Naples in 1751, in the church of S. Chiara, for which he was acclaimed as one of the greatest Neapolitan decorators of the 18th century. His works are scattered in many churches and collections in Rome, Naples, Gaeta, Urbino, Cagli, Pisa, Loreto, Turin, Palermo, as well as in many foreign galleries and collections.