Lot 179: Fedele Fischetti (Napoles, 1732 - 1792)

Fedele Fischetti (Napoles, 1732 - 1792)
"Ercole e Onfale", "Giove, Giunone e Io", "Bacco e Ariadna" and "Atalanta e Ippomene"
Four oil paintings on canvas.  Relined. As stated in Professor Spinosa report, these are four unknown paintings which are in an optimal state of preservation.  The dimensions and shape of the stretcher lead Professor Spinosa to the conclusion that they would have come from the sitting room or “gallery” of an aristocratic palace, and would have been designed to ornament the top of a door or mirror.   
These four paintings have the similar elegant form and composition, and are in the same range of colours as other important paintings by Fischetti from c. 1770 onwards, such as the frescoes and canvases at the Palazzo Carafa di Maddaloni and the Palazzo Casacalenda in Naples (1770-1772); at the Villa Campolieto in Ercolano, near Naples (1772-1773); at the Reggia di Caserta (1778-1781); at the Palazzo Doria d’Angri, also in Naples (1784); at the Casini Reali in San Leucio and Carditello, near Caserta (1790-1791).
The pictures in this lot, as Professor Spinosa points out, have great similarity in style with the "Four Allegories" which Ferdinand IV had sent from Naples in 1783-1784 to decorate his brother Charles´s chambers at the Royal Palace in Madrid, when he was still Prince of Asturias. 
Fischetti was a Neapolitan painter trained following the example of Francesco De Mura and Giuseppe Bonito, the last disciples of Francesco Solimena, who around 1760 began to embrace the fashion for neo-classicism which had its roots in Rome.  As his style oscillated between rococo and classicism, Fischetti was the Royal Architect Lugi Vanvitelli´s favourite painter, and later, his son Carlos.   
The paintings are accompanied by Professor Nicola Spinosa report, dated in June 2017.
58 x 127 cm. each