(Naples 1705–1789)
Portrait of the young King Ferdinand IV of Naples with the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of Saint Januarius and the Order of Saint Esprit,
oil on canvas, 89 x 69.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Château de Tanlay, Burgundy;

We are grateful to Nicola Spinosa for confirming the attribution (a certificate is available)

This painting by Giuseppe Bonito once formed part of the interior of Château de Tanlay in Burgundy (see fig. 1).

Executed in Naples circa 1759-1760, this portrait of the child-king, along with many of Bonito’s other works, is characterised by an interest in individualising the subject and his psychology by accentuating his intense expression. The present painting is also a fascinating historical document of a nine-year-old child who has suddenly become a ruler. King Charles III reigned in Naples as Charles VII from 1735 to 1759. Charles and large parts of the Bourbon court left for Madrid in 1759 upon the King’s accession to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand, meanwhile, was left in Naples at the young age of eight. He was to live until 1825, making him one of the longest ever reigning monarchs. Anton Raphael Mengs also left for Madrid, meaning that Bonito became the leading portrait painter at the court.

He had been a favourite portraitist of the Bourbons for a long time before. Bernardo De Dominici’s in his Vite, published in Naples between 1742 and 1745, concludes with an account of the painter Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) and his pupils, among whom Giuseppe Bonito appears prominently. Indeed the biographer underlines his special talents in portraiture and how this brought him to the attention of the Bourbon monarchs through their Secretary of State in Naples, the Marquis José Joaquin de Montealegre, Duke of Salas and an influential patron and artistic councillor to the King. Salas soon employed the young Bonito in his household as portrait-painter. As yet, little is known about Bonito’s formation in the early 1730s but towards the end of the decade he produced a series of canvases for S. Domenico, Barletta (1737), and the Graziella (1738), as well as for the Monte de Pietà, Naples (1742), whose unusually vivid colour harmony has both a Rococo character and shows the influence of late Giordano and Solimena. Perhaps his most celebrated achievement is the vault decoration of The Dedication of Solomon’s Temple for the basilica of Sta. Chiara, Naples (1752, destroyed in 1943), for which a preparatory sketch survives in Capodimonte.

Between 1736 and 1742, Bonito worked for the Bourbons in the royal palace of Portici. He officially became court painter in 1751. In 1752 he was already a member of the Accademia di San Luca, in Rome. Two years later, in 1755, he was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. In 1757, he was working as a supervisor of the Royal Neapolitan tapestries, and as Royal Councillor for all projects relating to art in the royal palaces. It is clear that Bonito played an important role in the artistic life of Naples during the second half of the 18th century. He was a rapid portraitist, executing an extensive number of commissions for the royal family and aristocracy, beginning with The Turkish Embassy to the Neapolitan Court of 1741 (Madrid, Prado) and including the series of nine portraits of Charles III’s children from 1748-50 (Madrid, Prado). Only a surprisingly small number of likenesses of the young king Ferdinand have survived, of which the present painting is an excellent example. One of his last portrait commissions came as late as 1788, one year before his death. This was a full-length portrait of King Ferdinand, which was sent to Sweden’s Gustav III for the Portrait Room at Gripsholm Castle (National Museum, Stockholm, inv. no NMGrh 665). Less formal than some of his contemporaries, his portraits have considerable charm and invest the sitters with elegant poise and decorum. They are unmistakably Neapolitan in character and blend Neapolitan traditional values with the new Classicism emanating from Rome.

Additional image:
Château de Tanlay, Burgundy