(Sorrento 1707–1787 Naples) A group playing cards, oil on canvas, 37 x 46 cm, carved and gilded Regency frame

Comparative literature: Nicola Spinosa, La Pittura Napoletana del Settecento, Naples 1988, vol. II, p. 112. Amalfi is one of the less well-known court painters from the era of the Bourbon dynasty in Naples, who faded into obscurity in the 19th century and only attracted the attention of art history in more recent years. That said, Luigi Vanvitelli had praised him in 1772 as one of the best Neopolitan portrait painters. Amalfi’s oeuvre which consists of very few remaining works above all includes charming, assured and swiftly painted portraits and generic society scenes, carried out with almost impressionist fast and impasto brushstrokes of great mastery. In the present work one is able to see evidence of the training Amalfi received under Francesco Solimena in the almost caricature-like realism and in the powerful chiaroscuro. His paintings embody the love of opulence and zest for life of the Neopolitan late Baroque period. We are grateful to Prof Nicola Spinosa, Naples, for identifying the present painting as the work of Carlo Amalfi (e-mail to the consignor dated 9 July 2009).