After Francesco Fidanza

After FRANCESCO FIDANZA (Rome, 1747- Milan, 1819).
"Eruption of Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples".
Oil on canvas. Restored
Measurements: 77 x 123 cm; 95,5 x 141,5 x 7 cm (frame).

This canvas represents a view of the Neapolitan port dominated in the background by the summit of the erupting Vesuvius and the city of Naples, following the models of the landscape painter Francesco Fidanza. It is a scene captured at dawn, as fishermen prepare to tackle a hard day's work. Merchants deliberately discuss the day's business, while stray animals wander around.

Francesco Fidanza was an eminently landscape painter who studied with Vernet and Charles-François Lacroix de Marseille (1700-1782). For Eugène Beauharnais he painted Italian ports, two of which, Ancona and Malamocco, with a landscape, are in the gallery of the Brera Castle in Milan. Francesco Fidanza's father was Filippo Fidanza, who was born in Città di Castello (Sabina) in 1720; he was instructed in painting by Marco Benefial in Rome. He later studied and imitated the great masters, and many of his works in that genre are on public display in Rome's museums and collections. Francesco's brother, Gregorio, was a disciple of Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa, whom he successfully imitated in his landscapes.