He attended painter Francesco Solimena’s workshop in Naples and decided, in 1689, to enter the clergy, becoming a canon in Cerreto Sannita cathedral. From then on, his religious and artistic lives became closely intertwined. Indeed, from the first decade of the 18th century, he produced numerous works for churches in the local diocese. The first such was the Miracle of Soriano (1710) in the cathedral church, in a style strongly influenced by Solimena. Later works, however – such as the Virgin and Child with Saints in the Minster of San Martino, Christ with the Souls in Purgatory and the Virgin and Child with Saints in the Church of Santa Maria al Monte dei Morti in Cerreto – heralded a new period in the artist’s work. They reveal a sensitivity to that Maratta-inspired classicism of which Paolo de Matteis had become the torchbearer through his works for Guardia Sanframondi.