Juan Ruiz

Active in Naples in about 1740–1760, Juan Ruiz is referred to as ‘the Neapolitan’ in the 1746 Palacio Granja inventory, which included five of his vedute: is seems therefore that he was not of Spanish origin, as his name might suggest. Relatively poorly documented, his corpus is restricted to the few works signed by him – as are these two views.

The first painting shows the town of Naples seen from the sea. In the foreground, boats float in the Bay, while in the background the town is meticulously described by the artist: it is possible to make out the Castel dell’Ovo on the left and the Certosa di San Martino and the Castel Sant’Elmo on top of the Vomero hill; in the centre of the composition, boats sail into the Molo Grande, identified by its red lighthouse.

In the second view, the artist has painted the Bay of Naples as seen from the Posillipo quarter. On the left, we again see the Vomero hill, dominated by the Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino. On the right, the silhouette of Castel dell’Ovo stands out against the calm sea, while on the horizon smoke escapes from Vesuvius.

Expansive views featuring majestic panoramas such as these first appeared in the early eighteenth century; painted by artists such as Vanvitelli and Gaspar Butler, they were very popular. Although Ruiz followed in the Neapolitan tradition of vedute, his compositions were typically more finely detailed. His softer light and broader palette, creating a more idealized vision of the city, also set him apart from other vedutisti.

There are several known versions of these compositions by Ruiz, which were originally part of a series of five views. Another of these series, identified in the 1746 inventory of the collection belonging to the Queen of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, is now dispersed; a further series of four views was sold in our saleroom (Sotheby’s London, 3 July 2013, lot 38, sold for 440,000 GBP).