A. Bocchetti

A. BOCCHETTI (Italy, 19th century).
"View of the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the background", 1873.
Gouache.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 60 x 100 cm.
View of the Bay of Naples in which the artist presents us with a panoramic image that reflects the bustle and activity of a daily day at the port, while paying attention to the landscape that is dominated by the presence of Vesuvius in the background. Italian painting in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries experienced its own development, thanks to the large number of architectural remains preserved in the country. The taste for the artistic remains of the past, the generalization of the travels of writers and artists in search of monuments and works of art that would serve as a source of inspiration, and the discovery of important ancient remains such as those of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum undoubtedly contributed to the success of the genre. It is a pictorial genre, moreover, that has its roots in the seventeenth century, in the veduta, not always topographical, but sometimes extremely imaginative, of artists such as Canaletto and others. These "Veduta" or "Caprice" start from the figurative theme is taken as an excuse for the development of a broad and naturalistic landscape, classicist style, perfectly framed within the classic Italian Baroque landscape. Thus, the figures are small in relation to the scenery, and although they appear in the foreground, clearly visible, they are perfectly integrated within the landscape, which rises as the true protagonist of the work. The work we present here is a coastal view of great scenic effect, starring scenes of popular life. It anticipates a mood that already belongs to the incipient European romanticism.
Neapolitan landscape painting, from the late eighteenth and during the nineteenth century, was dominated by the so-called School of Posillipo, perhaps one of the last moments of true international character and very high quality of Neapolitan painting. Posillipo was one of the most celebrated and represented corners of the Neapolitan coastal landscape, and determined a landscape school marked by atmospheres and moods, captured through pure chromatic and luministic transparencies. Painting "en plein air et sur nature", in opposition to the academic, descriptive and celebratory tendencies of the official and "parade" view, or to the repetition of growing conventionality of the anonymous production of gouaches for tourists.