Master Paintings
Master Paintings
Property of a Distinguished Private Collector
Robert of Anjou Witnessing the Construction of the Church of Santa Chiara, Naples
Auction Closed
May 25, 03:13 PM GMT
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property of a Distinguished Private Collector
Francesco de Mura
Naples 1696 - 1782
Robert of Anjou Witnessing the Construction of the Church of Santa Chiara, Naples
oil on canvas
canvas: 59¼ by 38⅝ in.; 150.5 by 98.1 cm.
framed: 75 by 49 in.; 190.5 by 124.5 cm.
This painting is an autography copy by Francesco de Mura, the greatest painter of the Golden Age of Naples, of his large-scale altarpiece that was destroyed by Allied incendiary bombs on 4 August 1943. The refined and elegant composition depicts either Robert of Anjou or King Solomon overseeing construction of either the Neapolitan Church of Santa Chiara or the Temple of Jerusalem, respectively. De Mura completed the original painting in 1754 and received 1,112 ducats for the work, a princely sum at the time, which underscores his preeminence among eighteenth-century Neapolitan painters.
Structured around vertical scaffolding and partially-constructed architectural elements, the composition uses an airy color palette to depict a hive of activity. The ermine-clad, crowned figure at right (Robert of Anjou or King Solomon) oversees a bevy of workmen involved in laborious tasks of construction.
Founded in 1310 by the newly crowned Robert of Anjou and his wife, Sancia of Mallorca, the massive Church of Santa Chiara, which was larger than the city’s Cathedral, occupied an important position within Naples. In 1895, Giovanni di Montemayor had likened the sumptuous Baroque interior “to a veil of snow [that] covered every surface.”1 The entire structure was destroyed during World War II.
We are grateful to Nicola Spinosa for his assistance cataloguing this lot.
1. “Come un velo di neve sovr’ogni cosa.” Quoted in C. Bruzelius, The Stones of Naples: Church Building in Angevin Italy, 1266-1334, New Haven and London 2004, p. 236 note 11.