The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia will host the first ever exhibition dedicated to Matthias Stom in Italy. Curated by Gianni Papi, Matthias Stom. A Caravaggesque Painter in Lombardy’s Collections, is a collaboration between the Municipality of Brescia, the Brescia Museums Foundation, and the Culture Alliance.

The show will feature all of Matthias Stom’s works currently held in Lombardy. Highlights include four significant paintings on loan from a private collection in Bergamo: The Incredulity of St. Thomas; Daedalus Gives Wings to Icarus; The Healing of Tobias; and Christ Among the Doctors. Three masterpieces from the Accademia Carrara will also be displayed, including two of Stom’s signature candlelit night scenes, a genre in which he excelled.

Other notable works include a large painting, Vespasian Freeing Josephus from Chains, from the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Soncino (Cremona), and three works from the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo’s own collection, one of which is also titled An Incredulity of Saint Thomas. The exhibition will showcase all of Stom’s works preserved in Lombardy, with the exception of the Chiuduno Assumption, which is too large to be moved.

Matthias Stom

Born in Amersfoort around 1600, Matthias Stom (also known as Stomer or Stomma) was a Dutch or Flemish painter who died in Sicily after 1650. He was heavily influenced by followers of Caravaggio in Italy, especially the “Utrecht Caravaggists,” along with Jusepe de Ribera and Peter Paul Rubens. Unlike some of his Northern counterparts, Stom did not focus on genre scenes. Instead, he favored biblical stories and elaborate decorative allegories.

Stom worked in several Italian cities, where he was patronized by religious institutions and prominent noble families. Although he was once commonly referred to as Stomer, it is now believed his true name was Stom, based on his signature. Along with Anton van Dyck, Stom was one of the most important 17th-century painters from the Netherlands to live and work in Sicily, leaving behind a significant body of work.

He was active in Naples between 1635 and 1638 and then in Palermo around 1640, where he produced a surprisingly large number of works. His presence is also documented in Venice from 1643 to 1645, after which all record of him disappears.