Royal Palace of ( Capodimonte) Naples - Italy

The Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palace in Naples, Italy origins back to 1738, when King Charles III decided to build a hunting lodge on the Capodimonte hill, but then decided that he would instead build a grand palace, partly because his existing residence, the Palace of Portici, was too small to accommodate his court, and partly because he needed somewhere to house the fabulous Farnese art collection which he had inherited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese, last descendant of the sovereign ducal family of Parma.Over the years the palace was enlarged and filled with more buildings. In 1780,on the advice of Jacob Philipp Hackert, a laboratory for the restoration of paintings was created.The manufactory of porcelain was founded in 1743 from, Charles III of Napoli and his wife Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony instituted the Royal Factory of Capodimonte adjacent to the royal palace of Capodimonte, Naples, the recently-completed summer residence. During this period was created an important works of art, chief among which is the famous boudoir of Queen Maria Amalia entirely panelled in porcelain, from the walls to the lamp.With this factory they gave birth to one of the most famous Italian forms of art. After King Charles, his son King Ferdinand IV continued the production of this particular decorative porcelain with the Real Fabrica Ferdinandea,vith a great production of vases and plates used to the King's table. Many of these dinner services are now in the Capodimonte Museum.During the Napoleonic period Murat was much more interested in investing money for the Napoleonic wars. This period representa a period of change in the production of objects in porcelain. The important royal table set didn't interest the French king and for this reason these objects were substituted by the creation of decoratives objects made of flowers more suitable for the middle class. This is the true birth of that recognizable style called "Capodimonte". Capodimonte porcelain is finally identified with cups, vases and objects with flowers, all made and decorated by the hands of experienced Neapolitan artists that gave birth to the first artisan factories.Porcelain is a hard white translucent ceramic which has been baked to the ultimate degree of compactness. When sounded acoustically it generates an even ring. Porcelain was first recognised in China at the time of the Tang dynasty (618-907) and is formed from the fusion of Kaolin, a brilliant white unmeltable alumnium hydrosilicate, and soft feldspar from petuntse (white quartz), at a temperature of between 1300-1400 degrees Celsius. Porcelain exists in two forms known as hard paste and soft paste porcelain respectively. Soft paste porcelain first rose to prominence in Florence between 1575 and 1597 when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco de Medici, created a small but highly prolific production known as " Medici Porcelain" - After the palace passed in 1861 to the House of Savoy, further pieces were added to the art collections, appointing Domenico Morelli as consultant for new acquisitions. They also added an extensive collection of historic firearms and other weapons. In 1866, the boudoir of Maria Amalia of Saxony was transferred to Capodimonte from the Palace of Portici, and in 1877 a Roman era marble floor was brought in from a Roman villa on Capri.In 1950,after the end of the monarchy, In the first and second floors house the Palace of Capodimonte became purely a national museum :The National Museum of Capodimonte. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some important Ancient Roman sculptures. The paintings from the 13th to the 18th centuries including major works by Simone Martini, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, El Greco and many others. The museum is by far the best place to see paintings of the Neapolitan School, often under-appreciated by the wider world, with large holdings of Jusepe de Ribera, Luca Giordano, the Neapolitan Caravaggisti and many others . Elsewhere in the palace the royal apartments are furnished with antique 18th century furniture and a collection of porcelain and majolica from the various royal residences.

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• capodimonte
• Bourbon
• royal
• palace
• Farnese
• art
• collection
• porcelain
• culture
• museum
• napoli
• naples