MURA, Francesco de

Francesco de Mura within a period of roughly eighteen months (1741-43) painted five ceilings in the king’s summer apartment, part of which occupied the north wing of the Palazzo Reale in Turin. His subjects were taken from Greek mythology, and four of these ceilings have survived in what was subsequently turned into an archive.

This oil sketch is one of the bozzetti created for the lost ceiling painting, destroyed in 1837.

Francesco de Mura painted the Adoration of the Kings in the apse calotte of the church of Nunziatella. This scene is one of the important subjects in Marian iconography. It is a somewhat unusual subject for an apse calotte. It is unknown why the subject was given such a prominent placement. De Mura’s scene has unusual features that were in part required because of its position in the apse calotte and in part the result of his interpretive enhancement of the event with scenes and motifs from everyday life. The latter occupy the entire foreground of the composition.

In the foreground dramatic presentations of secondary motifs - such as at left the taming of a wild white horse by plebeian musclemen - predominate. The stepped podium above the grille of a cellar that serves as the setting for the actual adoration is like a stage.

In the foreground dramatic presentations of secondary motifs - such as at right the unloading of gifts for the child from camels with bizarre trappings - predominate.

The iconographic and formal culmination of the Mary cycle in the Nunziatella is the grandiose Assumption on the ceiling of the nave. This subject had a special meaning for the Jesuits, who saw the Protestants’ refusal of Mary worship as a key issue in their propagation of the faith. De Mura depicted Mary being received in heaven by the Holy Trinity, and not simply her rising upward supported by angel, the image that had dominated ceiling painting since Correggio’s cupola in Parma.

The rapport between the framed and framing elements, altogether independent of the architectural situation, gives this ceiling a distinctly ornamental character. Along with the caps of the vault and the simulated oval openings, the framing of the side cartouches composed of C-shaped elements and the sculptural forms of the frames around the niches form a dynamic, airy system of positive and negative shapes radiating outward from the centre ceiling.

The focus for the richly robed figures in the lower part of the picture - among them the twelve apostles - is the sarcophagus atop a stepped podium. Its lid has just been removed and an effectively draped winding sheet spills out of it. Only a few of the apostles are gazing upward at what is taking place in heaven.

The picture shows Caritas in one of the two cartouches flanking the centre ceiling panel.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

During his fifty-year reign (1680-1730) Vittorio Amadeo II transformed Turin, the second royal residence on Italian soil after Naples, into one of the most splendid Baroque cities in Europe. In 1584 he started the enlargement of the palace known as the Palazzo Reale. The additions to the palace were patterned after the models of French court architecture, but for the wall decorations he looked for Italian painters. The decoration continued under the reign of Carlo Emanuele III (1730-1773). In addition to painters from Rome and Venice, Neapolitan painters also made a significant contribution to the decoration.

Francesco de Mura within a period of roughly eighteen months (1741-43) painted five ceilings in the king’s summer apartment, part of which occupied the north wing. His subjects were taken from Greek mythology, and four of these ceilings have survived in what was subsequently turned into an archive. One of these ceilings depicts the Disciplines of the Olympic Games in Antiquity.

The picture shows Fides in one of the two cartouches flanking the centre ceiling panel.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

The story of the Horatii is recounted by Livy (1:23-24). A quarrel between the peoples of Rome and Alba threatened to lead to war, It was agreed to settle the issue by combat between three representatives from each side, from the Roman family of the Horatii and from the opposing Curatii. At the end, only one man, Horatius was left alive and Rome was declared the victor. On discovering afterwards that his sister had been betrothed to one of the Curatii, he slew her. He was tried, found guilty but reprieved after an appeal by his father.

This picture, illustrating the death of an ancient heroine, is likely to have been painted as a pendant to a picture of the same dimensions, showing The Death of Virginia, in Manchester City Art Gallery.

The picture shows Abundantia (Abundance) in one of the two corner cartouches of the ceiling.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

The picture shows Justitia (Justice) in one of the two corner cartouches of the ceiling.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

The picture shows Mansuetudo (Clemency) in one of the two corner cartouches of the ceiling.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

The picture shows Spes (Hope) in one of the two corner cartouches of the ceiling.

The frames around the niches on the vault contain personifications of virtues. These personifications are not of virtues specifically associated with Mary. The Theological Virtues Fides and Caritas are placed opposite each other, and serve as visual links between the ceiling and the walls. Subordinate to these, in the corner cartouches of the ceiling, are four virtues, richly furnished with attributes and conceived as painted statues - Justitia, Mansuetudo, Abundantia, and Spes.

In the half-lunettes flanking the fa�ade-wall window appear the Rest on the Rest on the Flight into Egypt and The Holy Family at Work. Neither of these scenes is described in the gospels, but they were tolerated by the Counter-Reformation because of their long tradition. These paintings include everyday objects and their settings, a charming landscape and a domestic idyll.

The picture shows the ceiling of the nave in Santi Severino e Sossio, a church attached to one of the oldest monasteries in Naples.

The picture shows the fresco in the centre aisle of Santi Severino e Sossio, a church attached to one of the oldest monasteries in Naples. The nave frescoes and canvases were painted by Francesco de Mura.

The story of Virginia is told by Livy. Appius Claudius, a decemvir - one of a board of ten legislators dating from the 5th century B.C. - secretly desired a virgin, the daughter of an honourable centurion. He conspired with one of his dependents to obtain her. The man was to lay claim to the girl as a former slave and bring the case before Appius who would give judgment in the dependants favour. So it fell out, not without an outcry led by Virginia’s betrothed. But before the girl could be led away her father snatched a knife from a butcher’s shop and stabbed her to death. The theme occurs in Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, and shows Appius on the judgment seat.

This painting is probably the pendant of another of the same dimensions depicting the death of an ancient heroine: Horatius Slaying His Sister after the Defeat of the Curiatii (private collection).

In the half-lunettes flanking the fa�ade-wall window appear the Rest on the Rest on the Flight into Egypt and The Holy Family at Work. Neither of these scenes is described in the gospels, but they were tolerated by the Counter-Reformation because of their long tradition. These paintings include everyday objects and their settings, a charming landscape and a domestic idyll.

During his fifty-year reign (1680-1730) Vittorio Amadeo II transformed Turin, the second royal residence on Italian soil after Naples, into one of the most splendid Baroque cities in Europe. In 1584 he started the enlargement of the palace known as the Palazzo Reale. The additions to the palace were patterned after the models of French court architecture, but for the wall decorations he looked for Italian painters. The decoration continued under the reign of Carlo Emanuele III (1730-1773). In addition to painters from Rome and Venice, Neapolitan painters also made a significant contribution to the decoration.

Francesco de Mura within a period of roughly eighteen months (1741-43) painted five ceilings in the king’s summer apartment, part of which occupied the north wing. His subjects were taken from Greek mythology, and four of these ceilings have survived in what was subsequently turned into an archive. One of these ceilings depicts the Legend of Theseus.

The original Baroque church of the Jesuits was built in 1588. At the beginning of the eighteenth century it underwent a complete modernization, including the building of a new church. This longitudinal structure, begun in 1713 after a design by Arcangelo Guglielmelli, was provided with opulent interior decoration under the direction of the painter and architect Ferdinando Sanfelice (1675-1748). The frescoes in the apse were executed by Francesco de Mura. The unified and splendid nature of the decor is considered to be the most imposing example in Naples of the transition between the Baroque and the Rococo.

After the suppression of the Jesuit order the complex around the church became the Royal Military College (Scuola Militare Nunziatella) and the church became the chapel of military institute. Originally the church was dedicated to the Virgin of the Annunciation, but it is popularly known as the Nunziatella to distinguish it from the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata Maggiore.

Francesco de Mura began painting the apse calotte in the Nunziatella in 1731 which he completed next year. He began the second phase in the fresco painting of the Nunziatella in 1749, one that had been envisioned since 1726. In this phase he painted the vault.

The iconographic concept on which the decoration is based is distinctly Jesuit in character. In the apse calotte the Adoration of the Kings, on the nave vault the Assumption of the Virgin are represented. In the half-lunettes flanking the fa�ade-wall window appear the Rest on the Flight into Egypt and The Holy Family at Work.