Locating Artists’ Communities in Naples.
Instead of Haskell “mechanics of patronage” setup in Rome, painters in Naples were mainly distributed about the city in a series of artists’ quarters. Naples in the 17th century was made up of a group of artistic communities clustered in various regions of the city. One of the largest group of painters, sculptors, carvers and guilders congregated in the region of the Palazzo Gravina which can be seen in some veduti of the 1620s and 1630s (above). Other quarters included the district near the monastery of Monteoliveto- the Quartiere della Carita bustling with merchants, dealers and rivenditori, or sellers. This also connected with the Via Toledo, one of the main thoroughfares in the city- then and now - which led down to the quayside. Additionally, the quarter of Santa Spirito would be home to painters like Carlo Sellitto, Giovanni Batistta Caracciolo, Giovanni Bernardino Azzolini, and Filippo Vitale, as well as the sculptor Pietro Bernini. And the next generation of artists living here would include the young Salvator Rosa, Massimo Stanzione, Bernardo Cavallino, Giacomo Recco, and Viviano Codazzi who came from Rome to Naples. Such close-knit social groups not only cemented their links through professional associations but also through kinship networks and marriages. One example of this is Carlo Sellitto (1581-1614). Sellitto was the son of Sebastiano another painter and he entered the workshop of a Fleming (Croys) which also featured François de Nomé (from Lorraine) and the landscape painter Filippo Napoletano. Sellitto was betrothed to Croy’s daughter Claudia and in 1607 he set up independently with his own workshop in which he employed more artists. In 1612 Sellitto became godparent to the eldest son of Filippo Vitale, together with Andrea Vaccaro’s mother. Most of Sellitto’s work has perished, but his St Cecilia (Capodimonte) has survived.
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