Antonio Joli

With Frost & Reed, London, 1970;
From whom purchased by Oscar and Dorothy Hammerstein, New York;
By whom posthumously sold, New York, Sotheby's, 14 January 1988, lot 45;
There purchased by the father of the present owner. 

N. Spinosa and L. di Mauro, Vedute napoletane del Settecento, Naples 1989, p. 193, cat. no. 74, fig. 78 (with erroneous date listed for Sotheby's sale).
S. Cassani (ed.), All'ombra del Vesuvio: Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, exhibition catalogue, Naples, 12 May-29 July 1990, pp. 51, 400 (with erroneous date listed for Sotheby's sale).
L. Salerno, I Pittori di vedute in Italia (1580-1830), Rome 1991, p. 253, under no. 39.
R. Middione, Antonio Joli, Soncino, 1995, p. 116, under no. 39 (with erroneous date listed for Sotheby's sale).
M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli: Opera pittorica, Venice 1999, p. 79, no. 35 (with erroneous date listed for Sotheby's sale).
R. Toledano, Antonio Joli: Modena 1700-1777 Napoli, Turin 2006, p. 302, N.II.2 (as location unknown).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work was probably last restored in the 1970s or 80s. The canvas has been lined using wax as an adhesive. While the paint layer is stable, this wax lining could easily be reversed. The painting was retouched at that time. It has since become dull and slightly dirty, and the color would brighten considerably if the work were cleaned. The dark rich colors are very healthy in the foreground. The condition is very good in the city around the bay. The trees seem to be well preserved although the profiles of the leaves against the sky have certainly been strengthened. At present, only retouches around the edges are clearly visible. However, there is a thin but broad glaze that has been added to much of the sky and the water. This glaze probably diminishes cracking that one would expect to be visible in an 18th century picture. While some of this cracking may need to be retouched if the work is cleaned, and while there may be other small isolated losses in the water and the sky, replacing the non-original paint in favor of fewer retouches that are more accurate is important. There will be retouching to do if the picture is cleaned, and the lining should be reversed. Despite some thinness to the foliage on the trees, the condition is very respectable.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Joli was perhaps the most popular of the vedutisti working in Naples during the latter half of the 18th Century, and it was his popularity in this particular field which led to his appointment in the court of Charles VII of Naples (1716-1788), and later Ferdinand IV (1751-1825).  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, 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.  Though Joli's activity in Naples was principally linked to the Spanish Court, as the organizer of their celebrations, he 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.  He 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).

All of the elements which encapsulate Joli’s popularity and success are elegantly displayed in this sweeping view of the Bay of Naples. In the left center foreground, with a robed Capuchin monk kneeling beside him is a Bourbon King, likely Ferdinand IV. The King is casually surrounded by a coterie of guards and advisors. This particular view is seen from the Giardino della Regina at the Palazzo Reale di Portici. These expansive gardens and the attached palace were designed and built by the architect Antonio Canevari under the direction of Charles VII between 1738 and 1748. The elevated vantage point, which looks out directly onto the bay through a group of four towering oak trees, provides for a panoramic view of Naples. Joli has taken rendered the city with painstaking topographical detail, so much so that the picture can be dated with unusual accuracy. The composition takes as a guide Giovanni Carafa, the Duke of Noja’s Mappa topografica della città di Napoli e de' suoi contorni. The map was first published after Carafa’s death in 1768, though with topographical errors, which Joli follows in his composition. Later, in 1775, the map was republished with the previous errors amended, thus indicating that the painting must have been executed in the years between the two publications (see R. Toledano 2006, op.cit., p. 301; and S. Cassani (ed.), All'ombra del Vesuvio: Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, op.cit., p. 51).

In addition to the present picture, five extant autograph versions are known, those being in the  Certosa di San Martino, Naples (inv. no. 285); the Banca Intesa, Rome; with Sestieri Antichita', Rome; Anonymous sale, Milan, Christie’s, 25 May 2011; and in a Private Collection, Rome. All of these versions are extremely similar, and vary slightly in the arraignment of the foreground staffage, as well as in the treatment of the oak tree leaves. The trees in the present work contain less leaves than in other versions, which may suggest that Joli has staged this particular work in Autumn (see R. Missione 1995, op.cit., p. 116).