Views Of The Chiaia Bridge Before And After Orazio Angelini’s Intervention

The two views in question, works by Achille Vianelli, depict the Chiaia Bridge in Naples before and after the 1834 restoration led by the architect Orazio Angelini. The bridge is captured from the side of what is now Piazza Trieste e Trento; indeed, in the second view, one can recognize the decorative marble friezes by Tito Angelini and Gennaro Calì. The first view, conversely, documents the infrastructure’s previous layout (commissioned in 1636 by the Viceroy Manuel de Acevedo y Zúñiga, Count of Monterrey), including the large wooden crucifix requested by the Dominican friar Gregorio Maria Rocco. This was erected facing the street from the flight of stairs, intended to illuminate the way by means of the votive candles that would surely have filled it. In both drawings, the dome of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli is glimpsed behind the buildings lining the street—a view that is now obstructed by subsequent urban interventions.

In their stylistic characteristics, the two drawings align with Vianelli’s production during the 1830s when, after his debut as a landscape painter and member of the so-called School of Posillipo, he dedicated himself to monochromatic or sepia perspective views. This formula and technique secured his fortune both in Naples and abroad, to the extent that Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, summoned the artist to provide lessons to the King of France.