The Picture of Dorian Gray with roles reversed: Notes for a sensible chronology of the life and the activity of the Neapolitan optician Francesco Fontana (c. 1585-1656)

Abstract

In the last few years it has been alleged the possible identification of the sitter in Jusepe de Ribera's Allegory of Sight with the Neapolitan optician Francesco Fontana (c. 1585-1656), known for contributing to the diffusion of the Keplerian telescope. The present paper aims to demonstrate the impossibility of this identification, grounded on the erroneous assumption that Fontana was already renowned as an optician around the mid-1615s, and, on the basis of known sources, suggests a more reasonable chronology of his activity, which postpones the spreading of his fame out of Naples to the end of the next decade.