Francesco Celebrano (1729-1814) - Sposalizio in campagna

A rural wedding is an oil on canvas (98 × 80.5 cm, circa 1770–80) attributed to the Neapolitan Francesco Celebrano (1729–1814). The painting depicts a country festivity with 14 figures — among them Harlequin, Pulcinella and a duo of musicians — in a lively scene rich in comic details, with an allegorical undertone rendered with a delicate brushstroke.

The work sits within the eighteenth‑century tradition of bambocciate, a genre of popular-subject painting of Northern origin spread throughout Italy, but here rendered with an unmistakably Neapolitan flavor. The attribution to Celebrano — sculptor, painter and decorator, best known for the Deposition in the Sansevero Chapel — rests on the narrative style, the neo‑seicento impasto, and comparison with his other works, above all the Gioco dell’Oca at the Museo Correale in Sorrento.

Expertise curated by Stefano Causa concludes by inviting a rediscovery of Celebrano in his full dimension as a painter.

Dimensions with frame: 110 x 91.5 cm