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Lot Essay
A student of Francesco Solimena, Bonito became one of the most influential artists in Naples in the eighteenth century. Throughout his career, but in particular during the latter part of the century when Rome was the arbiter of Neo-classicism, his style remained firmly within the rich, painterly traditions of Naples. In his early work, which consisted mainly of religious subjects, he soon developed a personal, neo-baroque style characterized by sweeping movement, bold chiaroscuro and a saturated palette reminiscent of both Solimena and Luca Giordano. However, during the 1740s Bonito became a successful portraitist and genre painter in a style that differed from that of his other works. Continuing to use a strong chiaroscuro, the features of figures are depicted with intense realism and their costume is painted with rich colours and in great detail.
Most of Bonito's genre subjects were painted before 1750. An exercise in social observation, they depict scenes of everyday life in the salotti of the sumptious palazzi in Naples. Bernardo de Dominici, in his contemporary history of Neapolitan painting, Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani (published in 1743), notes that Bonito's genre pictures were 'praised by all the people [...] and [...] won him a great reputation' (p. 611). His genre pictures were sought after in particular by the rich Neapolitan borghesia, such as the cicisbeo (Neapolitan for a young gallant) leaning on his walking stick looking at the game of cards in the present picture. Yet Bonito's genre pictures were also sent abroad - for example a pair, A musical party and The Poet, that were sold, Christie's, New York, 11 January 1991, lot 67 ($748,000), which had been sent to Spain on completion.
Some of the character types - for example the old man with pince-nez (probably the family tutor), the ugly maid carrying a tray of coffee in the background, or the cicisbeo with his stick - recur in most of Bonito's depictions of the daily life of the Neapolitan borghesia (for example in the above-mentioned pair). However, one, the laughing young lady with a rose who looks directly at the beholder while being offered a caffè by a gentleman standing by her side, can be identified. The similarity between her features and those of the wife of the artist in The painter's studio (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples) is such that it is likely that Bonito's wife modelled for the present picture (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napolitana del Settecento, Naples, 1986, no. 293, fig. 356).
We are grateful to Professor Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution of this picture after examining it in the original. The picture is sold with a letter by Professor Ferdinando Bologna confirming the attribution (4 March 1957).
Most of Bonito's genre subjects were painted before 1750. An exercise in social observation, they depict scenes of everyday life in the salotti of the sumptious palazzi in Naples. Bernardo de Dominici, in his contemporary history of Neapolitan painting, Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani (published in 1743), notes that Bonito's genre pictures were 'praised by all the people [...] and [...] won him a great reputation' (p. 611). His genre pictures were sought after in particular by the rich Neapolitan borghesia, such as the cicisbeo (Neapolitan for a young gallant) leaning on his walking stick looking at the game of cards in the present picture. Yet Bonito's genre pictures were also sent abroad - for example a pair, A musical party and The Poet, that were sold, Christie's, New York, 11 January 1991, lot 67 ($748,000), which had been sent to Spain on completion.
Some of the character types - for example the old man with pince-nez (probably the family tutor), the ugly maid carrying a tray of coffee in the background, or the cicisbeo with his stick - recur in most of Bonito's depictions of the daily life of the Neapolitan borghesia (for example in the above-mentioned pair). However, one, the laughing young lady with a rose who looks directly at the beholder while being offered a caffè by a gentleman standing by her side, can be identified. The similarity between her features and those of the wife of the artist in The painter's studio (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples) is such that it is likely that Bonito's wife modelled for the present picture (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napolitana del Settecento, Naples, 1986, no. 293, fig. 356).
We are grateful to Professor Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution of this picture after examining it in the original. The picture is sold with a letter by Professor Ferdinando Bologna confirming the attribution (4 March 1957).