Capodimonte Museum, Naples

Art Gallery of Naples
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Museo di Capodimonte
First created 20 Feb 2011. Version 2.0 - 3 Nov 2017. Jerry Daperro. London.

Kingdom of Sicily & Naples and the collection.
Modern Italy comes into existence after its
unification in 1861. After the fall of the Roman
Empire, Italy was divided into smaller
kingdoms and states.
Prior to the unification the largest and
wealthiest state was the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, which was formed of a union of the
Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples.
The historical and artistic cores of the
collection of the museum came from the royal
family of the kingdom.
In 1734, Charles III of Spain, who was also the
King of Naples and Sicily inherited from his
mother the Farnese Collection. The House of
Farnese is an influential family in Renaissance
Italy. Its most important members included
Pope Paul III and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

History of Capodimonte
The Museum of Capodimonte is situated on
the Capodimonte hill of Naples overlooking
the Bay of Naples. The building is
surrounded by a beautiful park.
The harbour of Naples with its impressive Castel Nuovo.
A view of the Capodimonte Museum
Construction of the palace began in 1738,
in the reign of king Charles of Bourbon. It
was specially built to house the royal
collection.
The building work was entrusted to
Giovanni Antionio Meedrano, a military
engineer.
The façade of the palace is austere in Doric
style. The front façade is highlighted by a
strong contrast between the strong fame
work in grey ‘piperno’ (a kind of volcanic
rock) and the typical deep red of Neapolitan
plastered walls.

Maestro of Campain c1290
In the 13C, Italy began to emerge from the
Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It is during
this period skilful master craftsmen became
painters or artists. Their names were known.
It is the birth of European paintings.

Simone Martini c1317
This is one of the oldest paintings (1317)
in the gallery. Simone Martini was born
in Siena and was a major painter in the
development of early Italian painting.

Masaccio 1426
Masaccio (1401-1428) was the first great
painter of the Quattrocento. He was the
best painter of his generation because of
his skill at recreating lifelike figures and
movements.

Witz 1440
Renaissance did not begin only in Italy. It is
an European phenomena. In the early 15C
the Low Countries were very prosperous
and art also flourished. This painting was
painted only a few years after the Ghent
Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck. It is surprising
to find that the Capodimonti collection
included several paintings from the Northern
Renaissance.

Botticelli 1455-60
Botticelli (1445-1510) was a major Early
Renaissance of the Florentine school.
Much progress had been made when
comparing portraits of the baby Jesus
below with the painting of Masaccio
earlier in the 15C.

Mantegna c1460
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) was a
Renaissance painter of Northern Italy. He
experimented with perspective. He took a
sculptural approach to painting.
The sitter was identified as the 16 year ago
Cardinal Gonzaga.

Filippino Lippi was
the illegitimate son of
the painter Fra Filippo
Lippi.
Filippino Lippi 1490

Albert Durer c1496
Durer (1471-1528) was a German painter,
printmaker, mathematician, engraver and
theorist from Nuremberg. His woodcut
and engravings allow his works to reach a
much larger audience.

Raphael c1520
Raphael (1483-1520) was an Italian
painter of the High Renaissance.
Together with Michelangelo and
Leonardo da Vinci, he was one of the
great masters of the period. He is
particular well-known for his Madonna
and Child painting.

Correggio 1520
Correggio (1489-1534) was an Italian
Renaissance painter. He was
responsible for some of the most
vigorous and sensuous works of the
16C.

Sebastiano del Piombo c1530
Unusual colours. Sebastiano, a Venetian
was the only major artist of High
Renaissance to combine the colouring of
the Venetian school in which he was
trained with the monumental forms of the
Roman school.
He worked closely with Michelangelo and
completed many of his paintings.

Parmigianino 1530-35
It is the best known portrait of
Parmigianino. Antea was a lady of the
court. The painting is also known as
Parmigianino’s Innamorata (Lover).
The young woman was dressed in fine
clothing. This was painted at the height
of Parmigianino’s career.

Titian 1543
Titian was the most important of
the 16C Venetian school. He is
one of the most successful painter
ever lived. He painted some of the
most powerful people of his time.
Pope Paul III was a member of the
House of Farnese, a powerful
family in Renaissance Italy. The
core collection of the museum
once belong to his family.

Bedoli 1540-45
Girolam Mezzola Bedoli (c1500-1569) was
an Italian painter from Parma. A fellow-
contemporary of Parmigianino and
completed some frescoes left by
Parmigianino. It is an unusual subject to
paint a portrait of a tailor.

Venusti 1548-49
A copy of Michelangelo’s Last
Judgment in the Sistine chapel by
Venusti, before some of the nudity
was covered up with loin cloth
and drapery.

Parmigianino 1524-60
Parmigianino (1503-1540) was a
prominent Italian Mannerist
painter. His work is characterized
by elongation of form.

Vasari 1543
Vasari is more well-known today as the
author of the first book on arts and coined
the work Renaissance. It was through his
book that we learned about the lives of the
early Italian painters.

Broecke 1550
Originally painted in 1535. Van den Broeck worked with Giorgio Vasari in Vatican, Rome.

This is a detail of the painting on the
last slide. Pieter Bruegel the Elder
(1525-1569) was a Flemish
Renaissance painter. He is well-
known for his landscape series, the
Seasons of the year.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1568
Another well-known painting from
the Low Countries.

El Greco 1570
A rather unusual painting by the
Spanish painter El Greco (1541-
1614).

Giambologna 1579
Giambologna was Flemish. He was the most
famous sculptor in Florence after the death of
Michelangelo. His most famous sculpture is
the ‘Rape of the Sabines’ in the Loggia de’
Lanzi in Florence. He did sculptures on the
same theme.

Ludovico Carracci 1583
There were three Carracci, all Bolognese
– Ludovico and his cousin Agostino and
Annibale, who were brothers. With others
they were the centre of the Bolognese
School of paintings.

Annibale Carracci c1590
Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) was
active in Bologna and later in
Rome. He was a pupil of Ludovico
Carracci and was by far the greatest
artist of the three Carracci. He was
the most active founders of a
leading strand of the Baroque style.

Lanfranco c1605
The original painting came from the
ceiling of on a room in the Farnese
Palace. It has an impressive 17C view in
the development of landscape painting.

Caravaggio 1607-10
The painting was painted by Caravaggio
(1571-1610), one of the greatest painter
of the Baroque age. It was completed
in 1609-1610, about a year before
Caravaggio’s death, age 39. Caravaggio
died on his way to Naples.

Artemisia Gentileschi 1625-30
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652), an
Italian Early Baroque painter, was a
follower of the Caravaggio’s style.
She was the first female painter to
become a member of the Accademia
di Arte del Disegno in Florence.
Caravaggio had a painting on the
same subject but Gentileschi painting
showed two women co-operated to
kill Holofernes. There is a similar
painting by the same artist at Uffizi
Gallery.

Artemisia Gentileschi c1630
Artemisia (1597-1652/3) was the
daughter of Orazio (1563-1639), who
was a court painter to Charles I in
England. One of Artemisia notable
subject was Old Testament heroines.

Van Dyck 1627
Van Dyck was the favourite portrait
painter of Charles I of England. He
became Rubens’s chief assistant while
still in his teens. He was successful and
spent much of his time, painting the
English aristocrats, with his double
portrait paintings.

Forte c1640
Not much is known about Luca Forte (1600/15 ~1670). He was one of the earliest still-life
specialists in Naples.

Tagliolini - Eaarly 18C
The Royal Factory of Capodimonte
date back to the early 18C. It is
well-known for its white porcelain.
The Bust of Maria Carolina, the
sister of Maria Antoinette was
produced by the Royal Factory of
Capodimonte.

Volaire 1782
He was likely to be a student of the French painter Claude-Joseph Vernet.

Morelli 1873
Domenico Morelli (1823-1901) was
an Italian painter, who did mostly
historical and religious paintings. He
was passionate often painted
patriotic, Romantic and later
Symbolist subjects.

This statue was purchased
by King Vittorio Emanuele
II, who was the first king of
modern Italy.
Ginotti 1877

Gemito 1885
Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929) was an
Italian sculptor and artist. Gemito
was born in Naples to a poor
woodcutter’s family. His mother left
him on the steps of the orphanage
after his birth.

Patini 1885
Teofil Patini born to a wealthy landowner family. He painted genre and sometimes sacred
subjects.

Michetti 1895
He was born in 1851 and died in
1929. Francesco Paolo Michetti was
an Italian painter, draftsman,
photographer, costume designer,
modeller and scenographer.

Migliaro 1928
Vincenzo Migliaro was a
native Neapolitan artist.

The historical apartments of the palace

The porcelain private room of
the Palace of Portici was
decorated by the Royal Factory
of Capodimonte.
This represents the highest
artistic expression of the royal
factory. The porcelain
decoration is fixed to a
supporting wooden wall.

With over a thousand of paintings in more than 10 countries.

Capodimonte Museum, Naples

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