Prev / Next

Books, Autographs & Prints

Tuesday 06 December 2022 e Wednesday 07 December 2022, 03:00 PM • Rome

380

Legatura - Napoli

Description and drawings of the masquerade that took place at the Real Teatro di S. Carlo on the Carnival of the year 1827. On the evening of February 25th on the occasion of the Grand dance party, 1827

Estimate

€ 5.000 - 7.000

Sold

€ 6.360

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Naples, Royal Stamperia, 1827. Folio p.20 with 39 plates, lithographed and colored in watercolor by the workshop of Cuciniello and Bianchi, including the large panel of the procession of all the quadrilles and the Court of Persia about two meters long, coeval binding mz. leather, title and decorations in gold on the spine. 


Specialist Notes

COMPLETE WORK OF EXTREME RARITY, which brings together two publications dedicated to two different masked parties both held for the Carnival of 1827. The first was held in the hall of the Accademia delle Dame e dei Cavalieri with the private participation of Francesco I and Maria Isabella: central theme, the figures of the four main poets of Italian literature: Dante, Petrarca, Ariosto and Tasso, accompanied by their respective women who influenced their life and art, by two prominent characters of their works most famous and by four warriors in the traditional armor of the time. The masquerade found, due to the beauty of the costumes and the originality of the quadrilles, so much success among those present and so much favor with the Bourbon Court that Francesco I ordered it to be included in the program of the masked party scheduled for February 25 in the Regio Teatro S Carlo and curated by the famous set designer of the San Carlo Antonio Nicolini, whose central theme was the fantastic and spectacular Court of the Shah of Persia, which gave the participants the opportunity to show off rich clothes and precious ornaments. The success was immense and to commemorate it, two works were published, the first entitled "PROGRAM AND FIGURES OF THE MASK OF THE FOUR MAJOR POETS SHOWN AT THE FESTIVAL GIVEN IN NAPLES BY THE NOBLE ACADEMY OF LADIES AND KNIGHTS ON THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 19, 1827, composed of 4 unnumbered pages containing the title, the programme, the list of participants, a song by the four poets and 20 plates, the second: DESCRIPTION AND DRAWINGS OF THE MASK THAT ENTERED AT THE REAL THEATER SAN CARLO IN THE CARNIVAL OF THE YEAR 1827. EVENING OF FEBRUARY 25 ON THE OCCASION OF THE GREAT DANCE FESTIVAL, composed of 19 pages and 12 tables depicting the members of the "Persia Court" and the large table of the "Cavalcata". The drawings and coloring of the magnificent tables that faithfully reproduce the splendid costumes worn by the Bourbon Court and by the most beautiful names of the Neapolitan nobility, were masterfully and personally executed by the famous Neapolitan painter Luigi Morghen and lithographed by the artists of the Cuciniello and Bianchi workshop, who once again gave proof of their mastery. Remarkable is the panel of the "Cavalcata", designed by Antonio Nicolini, made up of 84 characters with the names of the participants referred to in the text, and about two meters long. Upon request, an edition was prepared by Domenico Cuciniello and Lorenzo Bianchi which included the two feasts, to which 9 tables were added which depicted the secondary theme of both the feast of the 19th and that of the 25th, entitled "Quadriglie delle Nazioni" and namely: "Scottish", "French", "Neapolitan", "Tartara". The "Programme" or the two works together are unknown in the entire official bibliography, including the important work by Franco Mancini "Feste ed apparati civil eligi in Napoli dal Viceregno alla Capitale", which reports only the "Description" in the version of the 12 plates.  

More Lots

View more lots