Neapolitan School Of The 17th Century, Battle Scenes Between Christians And Turks

Neapolitan school of the 17th century

Battle scenes between Christians and Turks

(2) Oil on canvas, cm 52 x 71

With frame, cm 61 x 80

A genre that found wide affirmation in the Neapolitan painting of the seventeenth century and flattering success among collectors was that of battle. The Neapolitan nobility loved to adorn the walls of their salons with battles depicting individual acts of heroism or complex fighting that exalted patriotism and military skill, Virtues in which the members of the wealthy aristocracy of the time loved to identify themselves.

The Church, in the Neapolitan area, was also in the front line of commissions, commissioning artists to depict the spectacular triumphs of Christianity over the infidels, such as the memorable naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, that marked a historic turning point with the great victory over the Turks, becoming repeated iconographic motif of devotional value, replicated several times for interest in the Dominican order, very devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary, Who was graciously watching the earthly affairs from above. Other themes dear to the Church in the context of the genre were derived from the Old and New Testaments, such as the Victory of Constantine at Milvio bridge or Saint James at the battle of Clodius.Among the main Neapolitan artists of that period, several specialize in battle scenes: among these we remember Francesco Graziani, known as Ciccio Napoletano, active combatant between Naples and Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century, Andrea De Lione, who lived in Naples from 1610 to 1685, versatile narrator of battles without heroes, of knights in assault or retreat, of secular scenes immersed in a wild and primordial nature, yet already classicized, and Carlo Coppola. The latter was active for over twenty years, from 1640 to 1665 and its catalogue, interesting because it is a testimony of a particular historical moment and the tastes of private clients, is still to be defined, even if many of his works are signed. It is precisely to the corpus of Coppola that these two paintings could approach: with the production of the Neapolitan battler the two paintings seem to share the smoky colors, accentuated chiaroscuro and marked dynamism of the scenes. Moreover, it is necessary to remember that the battle between Christians and Turks was an absolutely central theme in regard to Coppola’s pictorial production. Close to the ways of the paintings analyzed here is also the production of one of the most famous students of Coppola, Giovanni Luigi Rocco: the paintings show similarities with two battle scenes between Christians and Muslims currently part of a private collection Parma.