Italy - Naples, Campania; Aloja - Veduta di Napoli dalla parte di Capodichino – Vue de Naples du côté de la descente de Capodichino - 1806

Technical sheet

Title: View of Naples from the Capodichino descent – Vue de Naples du côté de la descente de Capodichino
Designer: Luigi Fergola (1768–1834), drawn from life
Engraver: Vincenzo Aloja (1769–1817)
Publisher: Nicola Gervasi, “al Gigante di Palazzo, n. 23”
Place: Naples
Epoch: plate etched in 1804; published in the 1806 collection
Technique: copper-engraved print on copper, executed in aquatint, with burin interventions and later hand coloring
Support: rag paper; verso white
Edition: plate drawn from the Recueil des vues les plus agréables de Naples et de ses environs
Dimensions: sheet 33 × 40.5 cm; engraved part about 20 × 26 cm
Composition: one sheet, with bilingual Italian-French title and editorial responsibility marks engraved in the lower margin

Description

View of Naples observed from the Capodichino descent, drawn from life by Luigi Fergola and engraved on copper by Vincenzo Aloja in 1804. The plate was later included in the collection of Neapolitan views published in 1806 by Nicola Gervasi.

The composition presents one of the northern approaches to the city, along the road that from Capodichino descends toward the urban center. The path, animated by passers-by, common people, a horse-drawn cart, and small groups at rest, guides the eye toward the buildings of Naples and the surrounding hills. In the background the fortified mass of Castel Sant’Elmo stands in a dominant position on the Vomero hill.

The vegetation framing the scene on the sides, with tall trees and a characteristic Mediterranean pine, gives depth to the composition and accompanies the sequence of the different perspective planes. The attention paid to the morphology of the landscape, to the vegetation, and to episodes of daily life testifies to the shift from a seveneenth-century topographic view to a more atmospheric and picturesque sensibility.

In the lower margin are shown the bilingual Italian-French title, the indication “Luigi Fergola dis. dal vero,” the signature “Vincenzo Aloja inc. 1804” and the publisher’s address of Nicola Gervasi. The manual coloring, presumably executed at a later date, uses greens, blues, and ochres to highlight the vegetation, sky, and architectures, while preserving the refined engraving work readable.

Historical-artistic note

Luigi Fergola was one of the protagonists of Neapolitan landscape painting at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. His work, characterized by direct observation of places and a particular attention to atmospheric effects, constitutes an important link between the eighteenth-century vedutismo and the later Scuola di Posillipo.

Vincenzo Aloja, belonging to a family of Neapolitan engravers, was especially esteemed for the copper-engraved rendering of landscapes and views. His technique combines the regular line of the etching with burin interventions intended to define architectures, vegetation and chiaroscuro transitions.

The plate belongs to the Recueil des vues les plus agréables de Naples et de ses environs, published by Nicola Gervasi in 1806 and composed of views drawn mostly from Luigi Fergola’s drawings. The collection, designed for an international audience and accompanied by bilingual titles, documents the most representative places of Naples and its territory through images in which topographic precision, documentary interest, and picturesque taste coexist harmoniously.

Condition Report

Print on rag paper, verso white. Clear and well-contrasted impression, with good legibility of architectural, landscape and figurative details. Later hand coloring.
The right margin is slightly narrower than the others, but remains outside the copperplate impression. Also visible are minimal waviness and slight irregularities compatible with the age. Engraved portion complete, with no significant gaps. Overall condition status: good.