(Barletta c. 1815-1869 Dinard)
Ferdinand II of Sicily in the Catacombs of San Gennaro, signed, dated de Francesco 1835 (under the frame), oil on canvas, 50.5 x 64 cm, framed (frame slightly damaged)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Germany.
The Italian painter Beniamino de Francesco created his paintings mainly in the style of realism. He found powerful motifs, among others, in river and coastal landscapes of Italy and in the depiction of young women with musical instruments. In the present painting, de Francesco captures the moment of a procession in the catacombs of San Gennaro.

The mysterious burial vault is located under the hill of Capodimonte in Naples. Building for the underground cemetery complex began at the end of the 2nd century AD on two levels and is several kilometres long. Some tombs were decorated with magnificent frescoes and mosaics. The present picture portrays a very different scene, however, with dark wall niches and bones lying around as well as skulls. The paintings depicts Ferdinand II Charles (1810-1859), King of the Two Sicilies. This State was created in 1816 from the union of two kingdoms, both of which had already been called the “Kingdom of Sicily”. Geographically, this meant the island of Sicily as well as the southern Italian mainland with its capital Naples. Although Ferdinand II ordered a number of reforms to improve the economic situation of his country, his reign also saw terrible persecutions and the bloody suppression of popular uprisings. His reign was marked by wars and unrest. He died shortly before the unification of Italy, which marked the end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 1860.
Beniamino de Francesco lived to see the founding of Italy and died in 1869 in Dinard, a coastal town in French Brittany.