This Spanish painter active in Madrid at the beginning of the 18th century was heir to the tradition of the Spanish baroque school at a time when it had already lost its earliest figures but continued to exist in the work of a series of painters of lesser quality. Although there were already Italian and French painters working in Philip V's court at his behest, the monarch did not seem to enjoy the newer aspects of their works. Existing documents and the observations of Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez indicate that Calabria worked as an appraiser of paintings in Madrid during the earliest decades of the 18th century. Around 1720 he received payment for the paintings he had made for the church of La Montserrat in Madrid, which is his most interesting and relevant known commission. Those paintings show clear ties to the Madrid tradition of Juan Carreño de Miranda and Claudio Coello, despite the fact that Ceán Bermúdez believed him to have been a disciple of Luca Giordano, and that he has traditionally been related to Giordano and to Antonio Palomino. The two canvases at the Museo del Prado are dated in 1720 and, while they, too, hearken back to the baroque tradition, they show the influence of Andrea Vaccaro. Though less brilliant and creative than that Neapolitan master's works, they are worthily crafted, with contained compositions and skillful brushwork (Crespo Delgado, D. in Enciclopedia del Museo Nacional del Prado, 2006, vol. II, p. 592).