Footnotes

Provenance
Sale, London, probably late 19th century, lot 249 (as 'GASPAR BOILA, 1727, on copper panel, 42in by 18in - 'Town of Naples, with sea-shore, Boats and Vesuvius in the distance in carved gilt frame' (according to a label on the reverse)
Private Collection, England, by circa 1900 and by descent until offered
Sale, Christie's, London, 5 July 2011, lot 51 (for £217,250), where acquired by the present owners

The present panorama depicts a view of Naples taken from the sea, showing the Castel dell'Ovo and the Castel Nuovo, in the centre, with the Certosa di San Martino and the Castel Sant'Elmo on the hill above. The foreground of the painting is filled with English ships at anchor or arriving in the bay.

In the years following the Peace of Utrecht, the English fleet were stationed in the Mediterranean under the command of Admiral George Byng whose task it was to thwart any attempts by the Spanish to regain their possessions in Sicily and Naples as these had passed to Vittorio Amedeo of Savoy as part of the peace negotiations. On 1 August 1718 Admiral Byng arrived with the English fleet in Naples, where he later encountered the Spanish. He pursued their ships down the Strait of Messina and went on to successfully defeat them in the Battle of Passaro, off the North coast of Sicily.

Further images of the English fleet in the Bay of Naples can be found in two works in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, one is on copper (45 x 104cm., ID BHC0349 ) and the other on canvas (65 x 148.5cm., inv.no. ID BHC19022, see fig. 1). The former, said to depict the arrival of the English navy in Naples on 1 August 1718, is on a similar scale to the present lot, also on a copper support, and is signed but not dated. The latter work, also at Greenwich, is signed and inscribed with an identifying key on the cartouche held on each side by the figures of Fame and Victory. The present lot similarly shows some allegorical figures holding a scroll but any signature or inscription is no longer visible. This subject and composition was clearly popular as attested to by a further depiction of the English fleet in Naples by Butler. Commissioned by Graf Aloys Thomas von Harrach, viceroy of Naples and Sicily from 1728 until 1733, the View of Naples from the Sea, now in a private collection, Vienna, is also on canvas and on a larger scale than the present work (see N. Spinosa, Pittura napoletana del Settecento, p. 155, cat. no. 267, ill. p. 370, pl. 362).

Given that the present work is of an exceptionally large scale for a painting on silvered copper, it could be suggested that it is the prime example of this episode with the shipping appearing differently in each (in the Greenwich work, for example, far few ships are shown). The subject of the English fleet in the Bay of Naples clearly proved a popular subject, most likely with various patrons who had a particular interest in recording this moment in English naval history.

Charles Beddington is planning to include this and the following lot in a forthcoming article on Gaspard Butler.