Oil painting on canvas H 204x161 cm - in frame H 268x203 cm Expert opinion and video by Professor Claudio Strinati: "The painting is constructed with a criterion typical of this eminent painter, by whose authorship I confirm, which has long been highly re-evaluated by historiography but still awaiting a full redefinition by criticscontemporary. Of Sicilian origin, Scylla had an important Roman period where it came close to the style and ways of Pier Francesco Mola and Andrea Sacchi. In in our painting, these influences, especially that of Mola, appear evident.thin and very tall figure of the Baptist dominates the scene set in a dark but clearly delineated landscape. The crowd crowds around him and there is a certain, I would say deliberate, accentuation of the oriental types according to a criterion that tends to visually reconstruct the stories told in the figure, in a fantastic and plausible way at the same time.The work in question here, moreover, seems to bear high on the right an acronym (difficult to decipher however) which could perhaps be read in A S, acronymwhich Scilla sometimes places in her paintings.The state of conservation is good but it should be noted as the painting should having been subjected to some drastic cleanup in the past that would have which then made it necessary to make numerous and widespread adjustments, in my opinion easily removable with a new and more updated intervention.Our painting appears to be dated to the period from terrific loop of frescoes in the Cathedral of Syracuse (1657-60) and some celebrated altarpiecesmonumental altarpieces such as that of the dying Saint Hilarion who I undoubtedly believe it is usefully comparable with our painting. Our work dates back to shortly after 1670, the year in which Scilla gave the prints a notable volume entitled La vain speculation disillusioned by the sense that it is the first paleontology treatise everpublished in Italy, a discipline of which Scilla was a great specialist.His character was very complex and also full of references extraaesthetics, of which our work seems to be a significant testimony.In faith,Claudio Strinati"Non-coeval frame. Sicilian painter of the 17th century.