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San Paolo Maggiore was the first Theatine church in Naples. Members of the Theatine Order modeled themselves after the apostles. to whose lives they ascribed the virtues that formed the spiritual framework of life within the order. The Theatines were presented with their first church in Naples in 1538, the medieval San Paolo Maggiore. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they gave the structure a modern appearance and enriched it with lavish decoration.
Francesco Solimena was commissioned for the decoration of the sacristy in 1689, and he completed the painting in 1690. This was the commission with which Solimena made his breakthrough, and at precisely the right time too put him into contention as the successor to Luca Giordano.
The four bays of the vault contain three groupings of picture panels: the centre row, in which octagons alternate with lobed rectangles; the surrounding triangles filled with putti; and the caps of the vault above the windows, which are bracketed to the panels along the centre axis by cartouches. The centre panels contain female personifications of virtues, while the female figures in the caps above the windows are personifications of the eight Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.
Thanks to their large format and their multitude of figures, the scenes on the end walls are largely responsible for the magnificent effect of the space. On the north wall the Conversion of St Paul is depicted, on the opposite south wall the Fall of Simon Magus can be seen.
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