(Castelmare di Stabia 1707–1789 Naples) Portrait of a lady of the Neapolitan nobility on a chair, an arcade and park beyond, oil on canvas, 120 x 92 cm, framed Provenance: European private collection We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa, who has identified the present painting as a work by Giuseppe Bonito on the basis of a photograph. Professor Spinosa has proposed a date of execution of circa 1750 (written communication). Although it has not been possible to firmly identify the sitter, certain iconographic clues are given to her probable high rank among the kingdom’s nobility, such as the monumental pose and the almost throne-like velvet covered chair. It can be compared with a portrait by Bonito in Compton Verney (Portrait of a Gentleman Architect, c. 1750, see fig.1). Bonito was renowned for his portraits of the Neapolitan royal family and nobility. The rediscovery of this composition by Giuseppe Bonito – an ambitious work in both scope and concept – provides new evidence of the artist’s creative process. The Lives by Bernardo De Dominici, published in Naples between 1742 and 1745, conclude 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, an influential patron and artistic councillor to the King. Salas soon employed the young Bonito in his household as a portrait-painter. The court of Carlos and Maria Amalia de Bourbon found itself with a rich supply of artists from the circle of the ageing but indefatigable Solimena – painters who could fulfil its expectations as regards to both decoration and the indispensable official portraits of the royal heirs.

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