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Lot Essay
Traditionally given to Antonio Joli and published as such in all the main literature on the artist, the present picture's attribution was first called into question by Charles Beddington (on the basis of a photograph) in his review of Manzelli's 1999 monograph (see literature). The structure of the overall composition and the figure types, which seem indebted more to Panini and Vernet than any Neapolitan artist, are slightly anomalous when seen in the broad context of Joli's Neapolitan oeuvre. However, the exceptional quality of the painting seemed to rule out an attribution to any of Joli's contemporaries.
We are grateful to Ermanno Bellucci for proposing the new attribution to Ricciardelli and to Professor Riccardo Lattuada and Charles Beddington for independently endorsing it. Bellucci observes that the two priests dressed in black, with their backs turned to the viewer, recur in a View of Posillipo by Ricciardelli (Alisio collection, Naples; see N. Spinosa and L. di Mauro, op. cit., p. 75, fig. 45). He notes, in addition, the exact recurrence of the three masted battleship and the sailing boat with white sails (travelling right to left) in the artist's View of Vesuvius (ibid, p. 76, fig. 47.); although seen from a different angle, Vesuvius is depicted in much the same way as in this painting. The unusually high quality of painting in this picture and the elegant foreign figures would suggest that it may have been executed early in Ricciardelli's career when he worked at the Bourbon court at Portici.
We are grateful to Ermanno Bellucci for proposing the new attribution to Ricciardelli and to Professor Riccardo Lattuada and Charles Beddington for independently endorsing it. Bellucci observes that the two priests dressed in black, with their backs turned to the viewer, recur in a View of Posillipo by Ricciardelli (Alisio collection, Naples; see N. Spinosa and L. di Mauro, op. cit., p. 75, fig. 45). He notes, in addition, the exact recurrence of the three masted battleship and the sailing boat with white sails (travelling right to left) in the artist's View of Vesuvius (ibid, p. 76, fig. 47.); although seen from a different angle, Vesuvius is depicted in much the same way as in this painting. The unusually high quality of painting in this picture and the elegant foreign figures would suggest that it may have been executed early in Ricciardelli's career when he worked at the Bourbon court at Portici.