Description
This catalogue, which it is an honour for me to present, illustrates a selection of watercolours from the Neopolitan museums of Capodimonte and San Martino. While this is the first time they are being put on display in Malta, visitors to the exhibition are bound to feel they are familiar. Italian landscape painting or vedutismo developed during the eighteenth century and blossomed in Naples in the first part of the nineteenth century. In that period the capital of Southern Italy was one of the leading cities in Europe, and its artistic culture ensured it international prominence. It was hardly surprising that the influence of the flourishing Neopolitan school of vedutismo spread to neighbouring regions, especially those with striking scenery of their own such as Malta, where the genre was practised with great success.
The marvels of nature in Campania were a favourite topic of the early nineteenth century artists, and the school of vedutismo numbered several foreigners in its ranks, including the Dutchman Pitloo, while Turner, Bonington and Corot all visited Naples in those years. Yet in taking its place among the numerous important cultural and artistic events to be organized by Malta in celebration of the year 2000, this exhibition does not dwell on the international aspect of the phenomenon: its visual impact is concentrated in the leading Italian and Neopolitan exponent of the picturesque, Giacinto Gigante (1806-1876), and a large number of his paintings are being put on view.
The exhibition has been made possible by the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with sponsorship from Middle Sea Insurance, Alitalia and the international transport company NTR, and generously hosted by the Maltese authorities. We wish to thank all these bodies, and include a special word of thanks to the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Valletta for the precious assistance offered on this occasion.
Finally our heartfelt gratitude for making the paintings available goes to the Soprintendenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici di Napoli, one of the most lively, dynamic and intelligent institutions in Italy, constantly at the forefront in the divulgation and promotion of Italian art and culture in the world.
Giancarlo Riccio
Italian Ambassador to Malta
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