Giuseppe BONITO

Exhibited by Galerie Canesso

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 168 × 235 cm

Place of Creation Naples

Status Vetted

About the Work

Here the scene takes place within a workshop setting, and though the painter is at his easel, his pose is clearly that of a performer, and he is dressed accordingly. At the far right, we see an important guest, a gentleman seated with crossed legs. His right hand rests on a cane with an elaborate handle, and he bears a sword on his left – a detail prompting De Dominici’s (The Lifes, Naples, 1742-1745) description of him as a “military” man. A number of people wait on him, including a cleric who points out the subject while others show deferential respect – raising a hat, enjoining silence – all of them attentive to the work of art as it is created. We can also easily recognize the older man dressed “alla spagnuola” in the words of the biographer, thanks to his voluminous bearskin sleeve. The artist has replaced his palette and stick, held by a young assistant, with a holder for silverpoint, or perhaps crayon, and in his left hand he holds a folded paper with a drawing of what is being reproduced. The sheet has a coloured version of the oval composition. He seems to point out a detail in the drawing of a figure of Hercules resting on his club, his head turned to the right, sketched in with brown tones. While the subject may recall the Farnese Hercules (now in the Archaeological Museum, Naples), the composition of this figure is far from similar, since the celebrated ancient statue has a standing pose. Young apprentices are seen helping their master, or drawing.

This group of spectators – no doubt real portraits, as De Dominici states – suggests this was an important commission, and the principal figure dressed in white and yellow is the patron; the Herculean iconography could be an allusion to his personal glory, or that of his family. The workshop is truly a performance space: a large painting hangs on the wall (one can just see the outlines of a still life subject), earthenware jugs hang from a nail, and a large lamp hangs centrally, although the room is lit by the open window at left.

The question of whether the painter depicted here is Bonito remains open. The Self-Portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence gives the impression of an artist who is still nimble, but aged. Unfinished at Bonito’s death, it was given to Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo de’ Medici by his heirs, and it is thus hard to say whether the two images are of the same person.

Like its pendant, The Huntsmen’s Rest (Naples, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte), our painting can be dated to about 1738/1740, and in any case not before that period, since in 1741 he signed and dated The Turkish Embassy to the Neapolitan Court (Madrid, Prado Museum), whose dense chromaticism is also found in our canvas.

Show moreless

Provenance

Waddington collection (no doubt acquired between 1850 and 1880), Château de Saint Léger du Bourg Denis, near Rouen, to 1939; hidden in the factory at Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre, near Dreux, in 1940; by descent till; 2012, Geneva, private collection.

Literature

- Bernardo De Dominici, Vite de’ Pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, annotated edition in 3 vols., ed. Fiorella Sricchia Santoro and Andrea Zezza, Naples, 2008, II, p. 1354 ;
- Véronique Damian, A Selection of Paintings from Galerie Canesso, Paris, cat. exp. New York, Didier Aaron Gallery, 20 janvier – 4 février, 2011, pp. 22-27 ;
- Nicola Spinosa (ed.), with the collaboration of Carla Valerio, Neapolitan Painting. The Carla and Francesco Valerio collection, Florence, Forma, 2015, pp. 120, 126-127.
-Achille Della Ragione, Giuseppe Bonito. Opera completa, Naples, 2014, p. 7, fig. 10.
-Achille Della Ragione, Nuove notizie ed aggiunte a Giuseppe Bonito, Naples, 2016, p. 7, fig. 11.