Two Paris porcelain gold-ground two-handled vases, decorated in Naples by Raffaele Giovine, circa 1835

Collection of the Marchese Nicola Santangelo, sold, Sotheby's, Milan, 14-15 June 2011, lot 253.

The Marquis Nicola Santangelo (1785–1851)

Santangelo rose to prominence in the 1810s thanks to his campaigns against brigandage in Basilicata and Calabria. In recognition of his successes, King Francesco I appointed him Home Secretary of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1831, a position he held until 1847. That same year King Ferdinand II conferred upon him the title of Marquis in recognition of his loyal service to the Bourbon crown. A collector and patron of the arts, Santangelo assembled the celebrated Museo Santangelo, housed in Palazzo Diomede Carafa, where the family’s collection was displayed.

Carolina Santangelo

The Santangelo family also claimed ties through Carolina Santangelo to one of the most illustrious Balkan dynasties, the Castriota-Scanderbeg line. Its most renowned figure, Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg (1405–1468), became a legendary hero for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire.

In the years following the closure of the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea factory, as a result of the French occupation of Naples and political instability, undecorated Paris porcelain began to be imported for decoration in Naples. Raffaele Giovine was a miniaturist with a flair for business, who enjoyed the patronage of the Bourbon Francis I of Naples and the Two Sicilies (1777-1830), who often commissioned special gifts directly from Giovine. Giovine also ran a lucrative porcelain decorating workshop, employing other independent painters, whose vases and wares were sometimes used as royal or diplomatic gifts. For a pair of Paris porcelain vases and wares, signed and dated by Giovine and painted with portraits of Ferdinand IV and Frederick I of Austria, against the same ground of grey cloudy skies featuring on the present lot, see Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Ceramiche, porcellane, biscuit, terraglie, maioliche, Naples, 2006, p. 116, 4.15 a, b. See also A. Caròla-Perrotti in A. d'Agliano (ed.), Porcellane Italiane dalla Collezione Lokar, Milan, p. 245 for further discussion of Giovine in Naples.

For a pair of marble busts of the same subjects by Giovanni Tacca (1803 - 1831), see lot 428.