Gennaro Maldarelli

Gennaro Maldarelli was born in Naples around 1795 and became a pupil of the Neoclassical Neapolitan painter Costanzo Angelini. The artist would work throughout his career in the service of the Bourbons during the years of the Second Restoration to fulfil the numerous decorative undertakings promoted by Ferdinand II for the royal residences and other representative venues.

Activity during the Bourbon reign

The first documented evidence comes in 1827 when he was appointed ‘maestro dei principii del disegno di figura della Scuola Elementare di disegno per gli Artieri’ (master of the principles of figure drawing at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples). Around 1824, he also collaborated on some drawings taken directly from the frescoes of the archaeological excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum. A series of wall paintings in the Pompeian style painted in various rooms of the Royal Palace in Naples; in the vestibule and gallery of the Villa Doria d’Angri at Posillipo; in the staircase of the Ruffo della Scaletta palace; and in the wall frescoes of the Colonna di Stigliano palace are attributed to the artist’s hand.

Participation in Bourbon cultural exhibitions

The painter took part in several Bourbon exhibitions with works ranging from mythological and religious subjects to portraits. In 1826 he took part in the Bourbon Exhibition with Venus Joking with Love, Portrait of a Woman and Portrait of a Man; in 1830 he presented Portrait of D. Felice Niccolini near a piano in the interior of a room, Half-length Portrait of the Prince of Sannicandro, Portrait of a Young Man, Portrait of a Man and Achilles Throwing Briseis to Agamemnon. In 1835 he exhibited Hercules Repossessing Dejanira after killing the Centaur Nessus. In 1839, he took part in the Bourbon exhibition with nine works including Six oil studies of several heads of Apostles with the Saviour, The Virgin Taken up into Heaven, Welcomed by the Holy Triad, The Archangel St. Michael Dropping the Rebel Angels and Portrait of a Woman.

Between Religious Subjects and Portraits

In 1837 he painted in tempera in the church of S. Carlo all’Arena the complex elliptical vault with the Eternal Father and in the eight ribs the Four Evangelists and the Four Major Prophets; on the over door of the same church he painted in tempera The Apotheosis of St. Carlo and for one of the altars St. Giuseppe Calasanzio Resuscitating a Child.
Also on religious themes are The Annunciation in the church of Mater Dei and the Guardian Angel in S. Maria delle Grazie. As a skilful portraitist he also executed the effigies of Ferdinand I, Maria Luisa and Isabella of Bourbon Spain.

The decoration of the rooms of the Royal Palace in Naples and the Royal Palace of Caserta

From 1840 he was involved in the decoration of several rooms in the Royal Palace in Naples. He painted the ceiling of a room in the old flats with Tancred referring Constance to Henry IV, and the ceiling of three rooms in the Apartment of the Feasts: in the first he painted Justice radiated by Bourbon Genius; in the second, portraits of ancient rulers such as Roger, Frederick, Tancred and William II; and in the third, the Stories of Love and Psyche, whose cartoons were presented at the Bourbon Exhibition of 1843.

From 1845 he worked on the decoration of the Royal Palace of Caserta, where he painted the frescoes on the vault of the new throne room and replaced the paintings made during the rule of Joachim Murat in the Alexander Room. The painter died in Naples in 1858.

Emanuela Di Vivona