Carlo BONAVIA (act in Naples circa 1751 – 1788) Ship on a stormy sea

Carlo BONAVIA (active in Naples c. 1751–1788) Ship on a stormy sea off a rocky coast dominated by a fort Signed in the center: " C. .ONA.IA " Oil on paper laid on canvas, 52 x 73.5 cm


PROVENANCE
- Private collection


THE ARTIST
Although he worked within the tradition of the Neapolitan veduta, popularised by Salvator Rosa in the 17th century and developed by artists such as Leonardo Coccorante, Pietro Fabris, Gabriele Ricciardelli and Pietro Antoniani in the following century, Bonavia was primarily influenced by the French landscape painter Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714–89), during the French artist’s stay in Naples in the 1740s, when Bonavia is thought to have seen Vernet’s grand Italianate landscapes in private collections in Naples and Rome. Bonavia assimilated Vernet’s style so thoroughly that his paintings were often (and still are) mistaken for those of his mentor.
He stood out from his contemporaries for his ability to combine Vernet’s fantastical and imaginative style with elements of the Neapolitan landscape. As W.G. Constable noted in his first study of Bonavia’s works: “More than they [Ricciardelli and Antoniani], he belongs to the group of painters who transformed the tradition of imaginative landscape painting by making use of topography, rather than becoming mere recorders of facts”. (W.G. Constable, “Carlo Bonavia and some painters of vedute in Naples” in Essays in Honour of Georg Swarzenski, 1951, p. 204).
Bonavia’s idyllic landscapes and evocative seascapes were popular with travellers stopping in Naples on their way to Pompeii and other famous sites. His patrons included Lord Brudenell and Count Karl Joseph Firmian, Austrian ambassador to Naples from 1753 to 1758, whose inventory included 17 works by the painter, most of which have not yet been identified. Although Bonavia was highly respected during his lifetime, he was virtually forgotten until the 20th century, his works often being confused with those of Vernet.


THE WORK
The characteristics of our painting—with its landscape details, the structure of the waves, the meticulous rendering of the foam and buildings, and the depiction of the figures—combine to place it among the artist’s finest works, on a par with his other, more accomplished paintings. For example, " A Storm off a Rocky Coast " (signed and dated 1757, oil on canvas, 126.5 x 207 cm, Sotheby’s London, 3 July 1996, lot 51) with its impressive scale of composition, and " Landscape with the Temple of Diana " from the Molinari Pradelli collection, Marano di Castenaso (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napolitana del settecento, vol. II, 1987, p. 157, no. 276, plate 56) and the " View of Castel dell’Ovo ", in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Academy of Arts, Honolulu, (see N. Spinosa & L. di Mauro, Vedute napolitane del settecento, 1989, p. 192, no. 69, fig. 68) are respectively good examples for comparison.
In more conventional formats, the painting exhibited by the Cailleux Gallery in 1986, " Storm off a Rocky Coast " (signed and dated " Carlo Bonavia P.A 1757 ", oil on canvas, 119.4 x 155 cm), is the one that most closely captures the similarities: details of the figures and vegetation, and the rendering of the sea and boats.
Another unsigned work by Bonavia, exhibited at Colnaghi London in 2006, " Storm off a Rocky Coast " (canvas, 81 x 145.5 cm), follows this style.