In the light of Naples: the art of Francesco de Mura

Abstract

"This is the first-ever scholarly publication devoted to the art of Francesco de Mura (1696-1782), one of the greatest painters of the Golden Age of Naples. De Mura's refined and elegant compositions, with their exquisite light and coloring, heralded the rococo, and his later style was a precursor of Neo-Classicism. His ceiling frescoes at Monte Cassino, destroyed in World War II, rivalled those of his celebrated Venetian contemporary, Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770). Yet today, he lacks his proper place in the history of art. This volume demonstrates why it is now time to reevaluate this once-celebrated artist"--

Contents

The Life of Francesco de Mura / David Nolta -- Francesco de Mura: A Chronology / Arthur R. Blumenthal -- Francesco de Mura and Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan Painting: Between Classicism and Rococo / Nicola Spinosa -- Something -But Not the Same Thing- in the Air: De Mura, Tiepolo, and the Science of the Heavens / David Nolta -- From Naples into the World: The Dispersal of Francesco de Mura's Works / Loredana Gazzara -- Francesco de Mura's Gift to Pio Monte della Misericordia and Its Rediscovery in the U.S. / Maria Grazia Leonetti Rodinò -- Catalogue / Arthur R. Blumenthal.