Charles of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies

After Giuseppe M.ª delle Piane had painted the King’s portrait on several occasions, and in view of the painter’s advanced age, artist Clemente Ruta, was summoned to the Court of Naples in 1742. Nevertheless, Neapolitan Giuseppe Bonito was to be the artist commissioned to paint the most noble and beautiful portrait of this sovereign.

The portrait was probably painted in about 1745, when Charles of Bourbon was between twenty-eight and thirty years old. Given his military dress – jacket, helmet and baton – his commanding attitude and the warlike scene in the background, it may commemorate King Charles’s brilliant campaign at the head of his army in the battle of Velletri, fought against Austrian troops on August 12th, 1744, definitively assuring him the throne of the Two Sicilies.

Richly attired with a tobacco-coloured jacket embroidered with gold, his chest bears the insignia of the Golden Fleece and the sash of the Order of St. Jenaro. The lace at his wrists and throat and the plumes in his helmet invigorate the slim figure of the king, who is shown with his arms in action in a more than three-quarters-length portrait.

In it, as in all of Bonito’s portraits, there is an interest in individualising the subject by means of accentuating the intensity of expression in his look and the psychological characterization. The chromatic subtlety, the refinement of the composition, the lighting and the diaphanous nature of the atmosphere make it an excellent work by this artist, whose qualities as a portraitist were officially recognized in 1751 when he was appointed Court painter.

The portrait is framed in a strictly contemporary, richly-carved gold frame with a leaf pattern.