From the collection of the last Queen of Naples

[La Pira, Gioacchino, Italian painter (active 1839-1870) - attrib.]. A group of ten masterly gouaches of Naples and surroundings from the collection of Maria Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria and last Queen consort of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

A collection of ten uncommonly large masterly gouaches showing views of Naples and the environs, formerly owned by Maria Sophie Amalia (1841-1925), who in 1859 had married King Francis II of the Two Sicilies and was the last Queen of Naples until the couple was deposed in 1861.

Three of the ten gouaches show nocturnal eruptions of Mount Vesuvius (individually dated 1855, 1861, and 1866), while a fourth, undated view shows the volcano in the morning sun, spewing forth great clouds of smoke, with ships in the Bay of Naples flying the respective French and Italian tricolour flags. An untitled view displays the Riviera di Chiaia facing towards Mergellina, peopled with throngs of elegant promenaders and carriages, the Villa Reale park to the left and the Chiesa di S. Giuseppe on the right. A highly atmospheric nocturne shows the panoramic shoreline of Naples by moonlight, from Santa Lucia in the west to erupting Vesuvius in the east, with numerous fishing boats at work in the bay. Another view bathed in warm morning light shows a city panorama from the "Campo", with the Bay glistening behind the buildings and the silhouette of Ischia in the distance, Vesuvius gently smoking to the left, Castel Sant'Elmo and Reggia di Capodimonte opposite. A different panorama is presented from Castellamare di Stabia in the south, looking across the bay to Vesuvius, with the steep cliffs of Monte Faito bordering the view on the left. The two final views picture the inevitable Blue Grotto and the island of Capri in the evening sun.

Souvenir gouaches of this type became a fixture of the Neapolitan tourist trade as early as the first half of the 19th century, and their oft-removed cousins remain available in Naples to this day, but they are almost invariably of inferior artistic quality and rarely exceed the size of an oblong folio sheet. The present ensemble, by contrast, measures nearly twice that size and is unquestionably the work of one of the most talented painters who catered to the affluent grand tourists of the mid-19th century. While unsigned, most pieces are attributable by their accomplished style to the workshop of the Neapolitan artist Gioacchino La Pira, whose works are found in private collections internationally. This set of ten gouaches, undoubtedly costly and preserved in perfect condition, was removed from the collections of the House of Wittelsbach, formerly the royal family of Bavaria. It was assembled by Maria Sophie of Bavaria, who by her marriage to Francis II became Queen of Naples at the age of seventeen - a title she famously defended against Garibaldi's armies, gun in hand, on the battlements of Gaeta. She must have acquired the set sometime in the later 1860s, during the years the exiled royal couple were based in Rome, before they removed themselves, in 1870, to Paris and Maria's native Bavaria - an appropriate final souvenir from the city and country she once could call her own.