(Sorrent 1707–1787 Naples)
A portrait of two juvenile princes of the royal family of Naples and Sicily, probably Princes Gabriel and Carlos Antonio de Borbón,
oil on canvas, 126 x 102 cm, framed

We are grateful to Nicola Spinosa for identifying the present painting as an autograph work by Carlo Amalfi.

There can be no doubt that the present sitters are members of the Italian higher nobility, as is indicated by the red heels of the sitter nearer to the front. Following a French fashion, they were a privilege of the high aristocracy or, like in France, of princes of royal blood. As the French court etiquette was also observed in Naples, it can be assumed that the two figures portrayed here were indeed royal princes. It has been suggested that the sitters might be the sons of Charles V (III) of Spain, whose likenesses were also painted by Giuseppe Bonito.

Amalfi is one of the little-known court painters who worked for the House of Bourbon during its reign in Naples. These artists fell into oblivion in the nineteenth century and have only recently attracted increasing art historical interest. Luigi Vanvitelli praised Amalfi as early as 1772 as one of the best portraitists in Naples. Amalfi’s oeuvre, consisting of only a few surviving works, primarily comprises charming, confidently and swiftly painted portraits and society scenes. Executed with a spontaneous, almost impressionist, and saturated brush, they demonstrate the artist’s great mastery as a painter. In its caricature-like realism and powerful chiaroscuro, the present painting betrays the training he had received from Francesco Solimena. His paintings embody the love of splendour and the joie de vivre of Neapolitan Late Baroque art.