Heliodorus expelled from the Temple of Jerusalem, 1720-24 (oil on canvas)

Depiction of the rejection of Heliodorus from the temple which he has been ordered to raid for treasure by Seleucus IV Philopator by youths and a horseman sent by god in answer to the prayers of high priest Onias. The canvas is part of a series of four biblical paintings (Inv. 377, 379, 380, 381), executed between 1720 and 1725 on behalf of Victor Amadeus II and allusive to the virtues of royal power: like other two editors, one at the Louvre, the other in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome, is to be considered the autograph replica of a sketch made by Solimena for the famous fresco in the church of Jesus New in Naples.