Naples, monographic exhibition on Battistello Caracciolo kicks off. It winds its way through three museums

The Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte presents in the Sala Causa the major monographic exhibition on Battistello Caracciolo (Naples, 1578-1635), the artist who more than others embodied the teachings of Caravaggio, to the point of earning the definition of “bronze patriarch of the Caravaggeschi” by art historian and critic Roberto Longhi. The exhibition, curated by Stefano Causa and Patrizia Piscitello, is the brainchild of Sylvain Bellenger, director of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, with the institutional collaboration of Mario Epifani, director of the Royal Palace of Naples, and Marta Ragozzino, regional director Musei Campania. These other two venues feature works by Battistello in an exhibition itinerary linked to the Capodimonte exhibition, including through joint ticketing for the duration of the exhibition until October 2, 2022.

Nearly 80 works many from public, Italian and foreign institutions, ecclesiastical bodies and private collectors are on display in the Sala Causa at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte. At the Royal Palace it will be possible to visit the Great Captain’s Hall frescoed by Battistello Caracciolo, while at the Charterhouse and the Museum of San Martino the exhibition route winds through the chapels of the Assumption, San Gennaro, San Martino and in the Church Choir, as well as in the rooms dedicated to Battistello in the Quarto del Priore gallery.

Caracciolo’s exhibition is part of the program of exhibitions being carried out by the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco on Neapolitan and non-Neapolitan artists who have had a close relationship with Naples, even if fleeting, as in the case of Picasso and, more recently, Jan Fabre or Santiago Calatrava, and who have seen their work influenced, pushed to express something different or sometimes to take a new course, by the Neapolitan experience. After Luca Giordano, Vincenzo Gemito, Salvatore Emblema, and now Battistello Caracciolo. These monographic exhibitions are often the first ever to be held on these artists and contribute to a better identification, if not of the School, at least of the Neapolitan milieu, a complex milieu that cannot be understood only by strictly philological exhibitions that often obscure the complexity of a metropolis as open to the world as Naples: the exchanges and uniqueness of the humanities in the broadest sense are more relevant here than traditional history and limited “scientific” exhibitions.

Each exhibition is influenced by those that preceded it. In this case, the exhibition Beyond Caravaggio. A New Narrative of Painting in Naples, curated by Stefano Causa and Patrizia Piscitello, which opened last March 31, also influenced the exhibition on Battistello Caracciolo, suggesting the introduction of elements of comparison with sculpture or pictorial works of different sensibilities, seemingly opposed to the figure of Caracciolo, shaking up genres and materials, without falling into the concept of a Civilization exhibition, allowed for a better understanding of the peculiarity of this painter, to change perspectives and give new readings to the rich and polyglot artistic dialogue in the powerful Spanish Viceroyalty, always shaken by thearrival of new talents from Florence, Spain or Rome, such as Caravaggio, artists such as Ribera, Lanfranco, Pietro Bernini or Michelangelo Naccherino and their works featured in the exhibition, aim to make the setting a more relevant and richer visual feast, where the visitor is an invited accomplice to interact.

Royal Palace of Naples, Hall of the Grand Captain frescoed by Battistello Caracciolo

Part of the viceroy’s apartment in the 17th century and that of Charles of Bourbon in the following century, the Great Captain’s Room takes its name from the frescoes on the vault, executed by Battistello Caracciolo. The paintings depict Stories of the Grand Captain Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, who after twice defeating the French army became the first Spanish viceroy of Naples (1504-1507). In the corners, the coats of arms and exploits of Don Pedro Fernández de Castro, 7th Count of Lemos, likely place the frescoes in the period of his Viceroyalty (1610-1616): it is therefore one of the oldest painted vaults in the Palace, predating the two cycles frescoed by Belisario Corenzio in the second antechamber and the Ambassadors’ Room.

The frescoes-which were extensively repainted in the mid-19th century and restored in 1990-illustrate the various stages of the Spanish military conquest of the Kingdom of Naples, led by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, known as the Great Captain (1502), as also indicated by inscriptions in Spanish: The Great Captain takes possession of Calabria (center), assaults the French at Barletta (north wall), duels with Monsieur de La Palice at Ruvo (west wall, much ruined), meets ambassadors from Naples who offer him the keys to the city (south wall), enters Naples triumphant (east wall). Battistello Caracciolo resolves the naturalist language in a monumental key and, in a spirit of adherence to history, inserts real portraits into the painted scenes; in particular, in the face of the man with a black mustache and goatee who protrudes between two figures in the center of the scene of the Meeting with the Ambassadors of Naples, the features of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio are recognizable, a tribute of the Neapolitan painter to his ideal master. Battistello was one of the few Caravaggesque painters who experimented with Merisi’s innovations in fresco technique. The cycle is inspired by the Historie delle guerre fatte da Consalvo di Cordova detto il Gran Capitano, published in Naples in 1607.

The works in situ at the Certosa and Museo di San Martino (Church and Quarto del Priore)

Connected ideally and concretely to the main exhibition at Capodimonte is Battistello’s narrative at San Martino, which winds its way through the places characterized by the interventions the painter executed for the Carthusian patrons at the time of his full maturity: from the large canvas for the choir in 1622, to the paintings for the chapter house in 1626, to the frescoes for the chapels of the Assumption and St. Gennaro, for which he had also made the altarpieces that were later moved to other rooms, which scale in the early 1630s, shortly before his death in 1635. In order to fully appreciate the extraordinary effort put forth by Battistello and the other artists called upon to decorate the Certosa during Cosimo Fanzago’s years, the Campania Regional Museums Directorate wanted to “turn the lights back on” in the chapels and spaces adjoining the church, thanks to an excellent new lighting system, which is the first step in a renovation process that will soon affect the entire complex, thanks to the work of the directorate and all the staff. Battistello’s story at San Martino concludes in the room dedicated to the painter inside the Quarto del Priore gallery, where they are exhibited, thanks to an arrangement designed for theoccasion and in dialogue with that of the Capodimonte exhibition, the paintings, sketches for frescoes and also, for the first time, Battistello’s drawings preserved in the museum’s collections, which demonstrate the mastery and ductility of an artist to whom, in the face of well-understood and practiced naturalism, study and invention were certainly not lacking.

Exhibition ticket: 20 euros cumulative for the Museum and Real Bosco of Capodimonte, the Royal Palace of Naples and the Charterhouse and Museum of San Martino, valid for one admission to each exhibition site for the duration of the exhibition, purchasable online or on site at each of the three sites at the relevant ticket offices info and reservations: 848 800 288 from mobile and from abroad: 06 39967050 / www.coopculture.it reservations via Capodimonte app on App store and Google store.

Ticket only for the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte full: 12 euros reduced young (18-25 years): 2 euros free (0-18 years) and Artecard holders info and reservations: 848 800 288 from mobile and from abroad: 06 39967050 / www.coopculture.it reservations through app Capodimonte on App store and Google store capodimonte.cultura.gov.it / 081 7499130 / mu-cap.accoglienza.capodimonte@beniculturali.it https://www.facebook.com/museodicapodimonte https://www.instagram.com/museoboscocapodimonte/

Ticket only for the Royal Palace of Naples full: 10 euros reduced young (18-25 years): 2 euros free (0-18 years) and Artecard holders info and reservations: 848 800 288 from mobile and from abroad: 06 39967050 / www.coopculture.it palazzorealedinapoli.org / 081 580 8255 / pal-na@beniculturali.it https://www.facebook.com/PalazzoRealeNapoli https://www.instagram.com/palazzorealenapoli_ufficiale/

Ticket only for Certosa and Museo di San Martino full: 6 euros reduced young (18-25 years): 2 euros free (0-18 years) and Artecard holders info and reservations: 848 800 288 from mobile and from abroad: 06 39967050 / www.coopculture.it museicampania.cultura.gov.it /+39 0812294503 / drm-cam.sanmartino@beniculturali.it facebook.com/museodisanmartino |facebook.com/DRMuseiCampania instagram.com/sanmartinomuseo | instagram.com/drmuseicampania

Naples, monographic exhibition on Battistello Caracciolo kicks off. It winds its way through three museums

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