Lot 208: PIETRO ANTONIANI

PIETRO ANTONIANI MILAN? 1740/50 - 1805 MILAN NAPLES, A VIEW OF THE STRADA DI SANTA LUCIA FROM PIZZOFALCONE TO THE PONTE DELLA MADDALENA oil on canvas 32 by 48 cm.; 12 1/2 by 19 in.

One of the few facts known about Pietro Antoniani's life is that he was born in Milan. It is not recorded when he moved to Naples, where is thought to have trained under Antonio Joli, but he is known to have been commissioned to paint views of the city by English Grand Tourists by the 1770s: Sir William Hamilton commissioned a Naples from Mergellina in 1771 (English private collection) and The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1767 in 1776 (William Mostyn-Owen, London).

The artist painted this particular view of the Strada di Santa Lucia on other occasions. A larger painting, with differences in the staffage but topographically very similar, is published by Nicola Spinosa as formerly on the London art market..υ1 A canvas of very similar dimensions (32.4 by 48.9 cm.) which omits the mount at left in the present work, was recently sold at Sotheby's in New York.υ2 Another work showing the same view and signed on the reverse of the original canvas was sold in these Rooms with five other views of Naples and the surrounding area. υ3Two other paintings in the series are signed on the reverse and all meticuolously record the moment or event depicted.


1. See N. Spinosa, Vedute napoletane del Settecento, Naples 1989, p. 195, cat. no. 97, reproduced p. 264, fig. 94.
2. Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 24 January 2008, lot 109, for $140,000.
3. Sale, London, Sotheby's, 11 December 1991, lots 1-6.