Lot 682 | Pietro Cappelli | Capriccio with Architecture and Figures

CAPPELLI, PIETRO
Naples 1700 ca. - 1724 (or 1734) ca.

Title: Capriccio with Architecture and Figures.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Edges relined.
Measurement: 132 x 98,5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.

Verso:
Later inscribed by another hand "Capello".

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Pietro Capelli or Cappelli was an Italian painter who was active in his native Naples in the first half of the 18th century. He was born into a family of artists: his father was a stage designer at the San Bartolomeo Theatre in Naples and his brother Giuseppe made decorations for various theatres in Rome.
Pietro was trained by Francesco Solimena, one of the most important representatives of European Rococo painting.
Capelli designed quadratures, but also painted capriccios and landscapes. His main rival in Naples was Leonardo Coccorante, who was known for his detailed large landscapes with imaginary classical architectural ruins (the figures were often inserted by Giuseppe Tomajoli).
Bernardo De Dominici, the biographer of Neapolitan artists, wrote in Le Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani (Naples 1744) that Pietro Capelli "veramente ebbe tal dono dalla natura, che partoriva pensieri così eroici in tale materia, per la magnificenza dell'architettura, che faceva stupire quei professori che lo miravano disegnare le sue Prospettive [he really had such a gift of nature that he produced such heroic thoughts for the magnificence of architecture that he astonished the professors who saw him draw his perspectives]."
His paintings are generally characterised by their complex structure and imaginative depiction of architecture, reminiscent of theatre sets.

We are grateful to Dario Succi, Treviso, who confirmed the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph, for his help in cataloguing the present lot.