* Antonio Joli Modena circa 1700 - 1777 Naples

N. Spinosa and L. Di Mauro, Vedute napoletane del Settecento, Naples 1989, pp. 162, 194, no. 81;
M. Utili, All'ombra del Vesuvio, exhibition catalogue, Naples 1990, p. 401;
L. Salerno, I Pittori di vedute in Italia 1580-1830, Rome 1991, p. 253, no. 40;
N. Spinosa and L. Di Mauro, Vedute napoletane del Settecento, Naples 1993, pp. 162, 194, no. 81;
R. Middione, Antonio Joli, Soncino 1995, p.110, fig. 36;
M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli, Venice 1999, p. 82, no. N.45, reproduced pl. XXI.

Joli was perhaps the most popular of the vedutisti working in Naples during the latter half of the 18th Century.  Born in Modena, Joli first went to Naples in the mid- 1750s and in 1762 was appointed the head scenographer of the San Carlo theatre.  His views of Naples and its surrounding territory, including a series of the Islands of off the Bay of Naples including Capri, Nisida, Procida and Ischia (see the following lot), largely executed during the last twenty years of his life, are perhaps the greatest of his works and those which made him most famous among the collectors of his day.  These paintings vividly convey the glamour, colour and drama of this seductive city.  

Naples was a highlight for Grand Tourists throughout the eighteenth century, particularly after the discovery of Herculaneum in 1739 and Pompeii a decade later.  Joli's activity in Naples was principally linked to the Spanish Court, as the organizer of their celebrations.  However, Joli also received numerous commissions from visiting British aristocrats, maintaining his flourishing practice as a view painter.  Grand Tourists including Sir William Hamilton and Lord John Montague Brudenell could be counted amongst his most important patrons.  Joli painted several splendid Neapolitan views for Lord Brudenell, some of which are now in the private collection of the Duke of Buccleuch.  Joli is known to have arrived in Naples by 1759 ( a painting depicting The Temple of Hera at Paestum in the Palazzo Reale, Caserta, is signed, dated and inscribed `Antonio Jolli/1759 a Napoli'), and in the same year Joli painted a famous series of canvases depicting court life in Naples and the departure of Charles Bourbon (King Charles III) for Spain; a series which he replicated many times (now in the Museo Nazionale di San Martino, Naples).

As in other views of the Bay of Naples by Joli, and his contemporaries, most of the architectural details in the present composition are topographically accurate and recognisable: for example one can make out in the foreground at the extreme right the Church of Santa Maria della Catena, founded in 1756 for the fisherman of the region, beyond lies the Palazzo Carafa,  and then as you follow along the Strada Santa Lucia you can see the grand Palazzos that line the strada overlooking the bay.  In the distance lies the church of Santa Croce and the church of Ss. Trinita di Palazzo, the Castel Nuovo, the Lanterna, the Arsenal, the campanile of the Carmine church and at the end of the bay the Camaldoli hills beneath Vesuvius and the Torre del Greco. 

The demand for, and popularity of, Joli's works remains largely due to the refined elegance of his compositions and the technical excellence with which he chose to depict one of the most visited sites of Italy.  A smaller version of this view of Naples was sold by Christie's, London, 8 July 1983, lot 57 (reproduced in N. Spinosa and L. Di Mauro, Vedute Napoletane del Settecento, 1989, p. 194, no. 81, and p. 74, colour pl. 44); painted from the same viewpoint.