MATRAINI, Nicola, Portrait of Bernardo
Tanucci, 1738, oil on canvas, University of Pisa.
|
Dioscurides of Samos after a Greek
original with itinerant musicians, mosaic, find spot, “Villa of Cicero”, Pompeii,
now in Museo Archeologico, Naples.
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Photograph of modern excavations at
Herculaneum.
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Caylus, Recueil, reproduction of
frescoes found at Herculaneum, vol vi., Paris, 1764.
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Antiquity and Affairs of State in
Naples
The
rediscovery of antiquity, sculptures, ancient wall paintings, objects of
curiosity in Naples, happened against a backdrop of statecraft and diplomacy. Under
Ferdinand IV, and with the help of his pragmatic and capable Prime Minister, the
humbly born Bernardo Tanucci, the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii were
overseen with a view to imposing a royal monopoly on the finds. Charles III,
king of Spain, was kept informed of the situation in Naples through diplomatic
correspondence with Tanucci and his rival, the Prince of San Nicandro,
Ferdinand’s tutor. This correspondence is revealing because it offers insights on
art and its reception in 18th century Naples. For example, we know
that the young Ferdinand was taken to see a mosaic from Pompeii of Itinerant
musicians in 1765, two years after his tutor had vetted it for the king’s
visit.[1]
Charles III and Tanucci were engaged in the process of imposing copyright
controls on the art discovered at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and one way of doing
this was to publish books of engravings of the ancient art under the imprint of
the king. The ancient paintings were illustrated in a number of publications,
but the most significant was Le antichità
di Ercolano esposte hereafter “The Herculaneum Volumes” (8 volumes,
1757-61) which contained engravings of these ancient works facilitated by the
varnishing of paintings.[2]
Due to the restrictions placed on visitors to the sites and museums of Naples,-
drawing and copying were forbidden, note taking was banned, and removal of objects
not permitted-, artists and scholars turned to the Herculaneum volumes. Not
everybody obeyed the rules. The French antiquarian, the Comte de Caylus had
visited Naples in 1757 and stolen some terracotta vases, and secretly had
drawings made in preparation for plates for his own book on the ancients, Recueil
d’ Antiquitiés which had started to appear in 1752. Yet Tanucci
could admire the initiative and learnedness of Caylus who cast aspersions on
the validity of the archaeological work at Herculaneum and mischievously but
perceptively declared that “..at Naples, antiquity is an affair of state.”[3]
Apart from art theft and the difficulty of recording the antiquities on site
and in the museums, Tanucci and his court were very sensitive about criticism
of the Herculaneum project. To criticise the digs at Pompeii and Herculaneum
was frowned upon by the Neapolitan court, but despite this there were many complaints
about the pace of the dig. Hestor Piozzi- who we last met in Florence- complained
that the Neapolitans were too slow at Pompeii. And the more informed Goethe
inspecting the site at Herculaneum regretted that German workmen were not
available to speed up the proceedings! There was also the question of fakes of
frescoes at Herculaneum circulating on the international art market which may
have led to the Bourbon court giving orders in 1757 to deface some of the Vesuvian
frescoes to keep them from being copied by antiquarians and artists.[4]
The German Artistic Community in
Naples.
DE SILVESTRE, Louis, Portrait of
Maria-Amalia of Saxony, wife of Charles III, in Polish Attire, 1738, oil on
canvas, Museo del Prado.
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MENGS, Anton Raphael, Self-Portrait,
c. 1775, Oil on panel, 102 x 77 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
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MENGS, Anton Raphael, Portrait of
Johann Joachim Wincklemann, 1761-62, Oil on canvas, 64 x 49 cm, Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
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KAUFFMAN, Angelica, , Portrait of John
Byng with Le antichità di Ercolano
esposte,vol 2, Muse of Urania, 1765, oil on canvas, measurements not known,
Private Collection.
|
In 1737
Charles of Bourbon (later Charles III of Spain) was engaged to Maria Amalia of
Saxony-Wettin. She was the Queen consort of Naples and Sicily from 1738 till
1759 and then Queen consort of Spain from 1759 until her death in 1760. The
mother of thirteen children, and a popular person, she oversaw the construction
of the Caserta Palace outside Naples as well as various other projects in her
husband's domain. Due to this marriage, cultural traffic increased between
Naples and Saxony. One of the most important artists from Saxony was Anton
Raphael Mengs who hoped to visit Naples, but while these plans were forming,
Mengs became firm friends with the leading antiquarian of the age, a son of a
cobbler from Prussia, J.J. Winckelmann. Mengs organized a number of visits so
that the archaeologist could examine the finds at Herculaneum for himself.
Winckelmann first visited Naples in 1758 which resulted in a letter to Mengs in
Rome giving descriptions of what was then called the Basilica at Herculaneum. Another
significance artist was Angelica Kauffmann, Swiss, but close to the German artistic community. She was in Naples between July 1763 and April 1764 with the aim of finding
other wealthy and influential patrons, a strategy that paid off handsomely. The
openings she made in Naples led to further opportunities in Britain since her
sitters in Naples were primarily British, such as John Byng who is portrayed
with Vesuvius in the background and with a copy of the second volume of Le antichità di Ercolano esposte, which
might be viewed as a symbol of the general interest in Neapolitan antiquity.
Byng who never returned to Britain also commissioned a number of Roman subjects
from Kauffmann, which according to Roettgen, betray the painter’s knowledge of
the classical tradition followed by Batoni, Mengs, Dance and Gavin Hamilton who
were all under the influence of Poussin who was the first artist to seriously
attempt to give his work the air of ancient paintings long before the
Pompeii/Herculaneum phenomenon.[5]
Kauffman also met Johann Reiffenstein who introduced her to encaustic or hot
wax painting which reflects the evolving debate on how ancient pictures were
painted. Kauffmann was also put in contact with Winckelmann, who also sat for
her.[6]
Finally, Kauffmann was very friendly with Goethe who visited Naples in 1787
with the painter Tischbein, and who visited Pompeii on 11th March
1788 where he notes the “richly painted frescoes” are in a state of
deterioration, probably due to the disastrous policy of the Bourbons mentioned
above.[7]
A Brief Note on Herculaneum and
Pompeii on the Grand Tour.
Theatre at Pompeii |
Street in modern Pompeii |
Reconstructing Pompeii: Piranesi and
the Tradition of Drawing
PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, The Villa of Diomedes at Pompeii, undated, brush and pen in black ink over black chalk on white paper, Ashmoleon Museum, Oxford. |
PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, View
through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii, undated, pen and brown ink over black
chalk, Metropolitan Museum of Art, (Lehmann Coll, 1975).
Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii.
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DEPREZ, Louis Jean, The Herculaneum
Gate at Pompeii, undated, black ink, grey wash and watercolour, National
Museum, Stockholm.
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DEPREZ, Louis Jean, Temple of Isis
with Protective Covering at Pompeii, undated, black ink, grey wash and
watercolour, National Museum, Stockholm.
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Performing the Antique in Naples: Emma
Hamilton and Mme de Stael’s Corinne
VIGÉE LE BRUN, Elizabeth, Emma
Hamilton (1761-1815)- as a Bacchant, 1790, Private Collection, oil on canvas,
134.6 x 157.5 cm.
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Attitudes of Emma Hamilton, after
1791, print, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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GERARD, François, Corinne at Cape Miseno, 1819, Oil on canvas, 266 x 277 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon.41. |
Slides.
1) MENGS, Anton Raphael, Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, 1760, Oil on canvas, 179 x 130 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
2) TISCHBEIN, Johann Heinrich, Maria Teresa and Mari Luisa Amalia of Bourbon with a bust of their mother Maria Carolina, 1790, oil on canvas, measurements unknown, Private Collection.
3) DE SILVESTRE, Louis, Portrait of Maria-Amalia of Saxony, wife of Charles III, in Polish Attire, 1738, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado.
4) Caserta Place.
5) MATRAINI, Nicola, Portrait of Bernardo Tanucci, 1738, oil on canvas, University of Pisa.
6) Dioscurides of Samos after a Greek original with itinerant musicians, mosaic, find spot, “Villa of Cicero”, Pompeii, now in Museo Archeologico, Naples.
7) UNKNOWN ARTIST Villa of Mysteries, 65-50 BC, Pompeii.
8) Photograph of modern excavations at Herculaneum.
9) Caylus, Recueil, reproduction of frescoes found at Herculaneum, vol vi., Paris, 1764.
10) PIRANESI, Francesco, Niche in the Temple of Isis at Pompeii, engraving showing the interior of the Sacrarium of Isis as reconstructed in the royal collection, Antiquités de la Grande Grèce, vol 3, 1807.
11) Sacrarium of Isis, east wall showing Harpocrates, Museo Archeologico, Naples.
12) REYNOLDS, Sir Joshua, Sir William Hamilton, 1776-77, oil on canvas, measurements not known, National Portrait Gallery, London.
13) Frontispiece from Le antichità di Ercolano esposte, 1757.
14) Hercules with the Child Telephos and the Personification of Arcadia, Le antichità di Ercolano esposte, vol 3, 1757.
15) MENGS, Anton Raphael, Self-Portrait, c. 1775, Oil on panel, 102 x 77 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
16) MENGS, Anton Raphael, Parnassus, with figure of Mnemosyne, 1760-61, fresco, Villa-Torlonia-Albani, Rome.
17) MENGS, Anton Raphael, Portrait of Johann Joachim Wincklemann, 1761-62, Oil on canvas, 64 x 49 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
18) UNKNOWN ARTIST Att. to MENGS, Anton Raphael, Jupiter and Ganymede, 1758-59, Fresco transferred to canvas, thought to be fake, 180 x 140 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.
19) Marsyas and Olympia from Le antichità di Ercolano esposte, vol. 3, 1757.
20) KAUFFMAN, Angelica, Self-portrait, c. 1764, Oil on canvas, 89 x 68.5 cm, National Trust, Saltram, Plymouth.
21) KAUFFMAN, Angelica, A Woman in Neapolitan Dress, Oil on canvas, 89 x 68.5 cm, National Trust, Saltram, Plymouth
22) KAUFFMAN, Angelica, , Portrait of John Byng with Le antichità di Ercolano esposte,vol 2, Muse of Urania, 1765, oil on canvas, measurements not known, Private Collection.
23) Muse Urania, Le antichità di Ercolano esposte, vol 2, Naples, 1760.
24) KAUFFMAN, Angelica, Young Woman, 1766, etching, Angelica Kauffmann Museum, Schwarzenberg.
25) KAUFFMAN, Angelica, Bacchus and Ariadne, Oil on canvas, Private collection.
26) Photograph of Pompeii today.
27) PIRANESI, Francesco, Site Plan of Pompeii, c. 1792, etching and engraving.
28) PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, The Villa of Diomedes at Pompeii, undated, brush and pen in black ink over black chalk on white paper, Ashmoleon Museum, Oxford.
29) PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, View through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii, undated, pen and brown ink over black chalk, Metropolitan Museum of Art, (Lehmann Coll, 1975),
30) Photograph of Herculaneum Gate, date unknown.
31) PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, The Via Consalare, Pompeii, undated, pen and brown ink and wash, British Museum, London.
32) DEPREZ, Louis Jean, The Herculaneum Gate at Pompeii, undated, black ink, grey wash and watercolour, National Museum, Stockholm.
33) DEPREZ, Louis Jean, Temple of Isis with Protective Covering at Pompeii, undated, black ink, grey wash and watercolour, National Museum, Stockholm.
34) ALLAN, David, Sir William Hamilton, 1775, oil on canvas, 226 x 180.3 cm, National Portrait Gallery, London.
35) VIGÉE LE BRUN, Elizabeth, Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, after 1782, Oil on canvas, 98 x 70 cm,National Gallery.
36) VIGÉE LE BRUN, Elizabeth, Emma Hamilton (1761-1815)- as a Bacchant, 1790, Private Collection, oil on canvas, 134.6 x 157.5 cm.
37) FABRIS, Pietro, Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Seaforth, 1744-1781, at home in Naples: Concert party (right to left, Fabris, W.A. Mozart, Leopold Mozart,Hamilton, Seaforth, and Gaetano Pugnani, 1770, oil on canvas, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
38) Attitudes of Emma Hamilton, after 1791, print, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
39) Small Herculaneum Woman, c. 20-30 BC, marble, Dresden.
40) GERARD, François, Corinne at Cape Miseno, 1819, Oil on canvas, 266 x 277 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon.41. VIGÉE LE BRUN, Elizabeth, Portrait of Madame de Staël as Corinne on Cape Misenum, 1809, Oil on canvas, 140 x 118 cm, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.
[1]
See Carlo Knight, “Politics and Royal Patronage in the Neapolitan Regency: The
Correspondence of Charles III and the Prince of San Nicandro, 1759-1767 in Rediscovering the Ancient World on the Bay
of Naples, 1710-1890, National Gallery Washington, 2013, 75-88, 80.
[2]
See Steffi Roettgen, “German Painters in Naples and Their Contribution to the
Revival of Antiquity 1760-1799 in Rediscovering
the Ancient World on the Bay of Naples, 125-140.
[3]
John E. Moore, “To the Catholic King” and Others: Bernardo Tanucci’s
Correspondence and the Herculaneum Project” in Rediscovering the Ancient World on the Bay of Naples, 91-122, 105.
[4] Paolo
D’Alconzo, trans Mark Weir, “Naples and the Birth of a Tradition of
Conservation: the restoration of wall paintings from Vesuvian sites in the 18th
Century,” Journal of the History of
Collections, 2007, vol. 19, no. 11, 203-214, 205.
[5]
Roettgen, “German Painters in Naples, 130.
[6] Roettgen,
“German Painters in Naples, 132.
[7]
Goethe Italian Journey, trans W.H.
Auden and Elizabeth Mayer, (Penguin, 1962), 198.
[8]
For an interesting use of this metaphor deriving from Susan Sontag’s comparison
of Pompeii/Herculaneum to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in her novel on William Hamilton,
see Eugene J. Dwyer, “ Pompeii verses Herculaneum” In Rediscovering the Ancient World, 247-266.
[9]
Dwyer notes that despite’s the sun-lit Pompeii, it yielded up more dead bodies.
[10]
John Pinto, “Speaking Ruins: Piranesi and Desprez at Pompeii” in Rediscovering the Ancient World on the Bay
of Naples, 231-244.
[11]
See Jens Daehner, “The Herculaneum Women in Eighteenth-Century Europe” in Rediscovering the Ancient World, 37-46.
[12]
On women and antiquity in Naples, see Chloe Chard, Pleasure and Guilt on the Grand Tour: Travel Writing and Imaginative
Geography, (University of Manchester Press, 1999), 126f.