Juan Ruiz

Acquired by Don Juan Lorenzo de Coyra, equerry to Carlos of Bourbon (later Charles III of Spain), before 1742;
By whom sent to Carlos' mother Elisabetta Farnese (1692-1766), Queen consort of Spain, in whose residence, the Palacio Real de Riofrio, Segovia, the painting is listed as hanging by 1746.

Marqués de Lozoya, Palacios Reales de la Granja de San Idelfonso y Riofrúce, Madrid 1967, p. 106;
J. Urrea Fernandez, La Pintura Italiana del Siglo XVIII en España, Valladolid 1977, p. 357;
N. Spinosa and L. di Mauro, Vedute napoletane del Settecento, Naples 1989, p. 190, under cat. no. 48.

The painting is paler in tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest. The canvas has been firmly relined which has abraded the pigments slightly. The paint surface appears to be in good overall condition with no apparent damage or loss of paint however in a raking light there appears to be old retouching to a horizontal area of old repaired damage running across the length of the canvas in the sky parallel to the upper canvas edge. Examination under ultraviolet light confirms the presence of retouching along the length of this old area of damage. It also reveals further extensive retouching above this along the upper canvas edge. Uniting these two lines is retouching to what appears to be an old repaired hole at the canvas edge directly above the bay inscribed '2' which measures approx. 25 cm. There is also retouching to the other canvas edges but most notably in the lower left, to two areas of repaired vertical damage each measuring approx. 7cm, along the lower right hand edge where there are what appears to be three old retouched scratches each measuring approx. 7 cm. (two in the centre below the largest ship and one that runs through the right most horse and carriage) and up the right most edge where there is an old repaired horizontal tear from the canvas edge centre right measuring approx. 7 cm. Elsewhere there is retouching to a faint stretcher bar mark and to a small area of repaired damage measuring approx. 3 cm. in diameter, both located in the upper left. There are also small scattered flecks of cosmetic retouching throughout the sky and bay, some of which are very minor areas of infilling to an old craquelure. Offered in a plain gilt wood frame with very minor losses.
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This impressive panoramic view of the Gulf of Pozzuoli once formed part of a set of five views of sites within the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which were in the collection of Elisabetta Farnese, Queen of Spain. They are mentioned as hanging in the Palacio Real de Riofrio in Segovia in an inventory of 1746; the year in which Ferdinand VI acceded the throne and Elisabetta retired from court life: "720-724. Cinco pinturas en lienzo de mano de Juan Ruiz napolitano la primera la vista de Mesina... la quarta la vista del puerto de Baye".¹ The paintings appear to have been sent to her from Naples some time before 1742 by Don Juan Lorenzo de Coyra, an official in the household of her son Carlos (later Charles III of Spain), as were a number of other paintings by Neapolitan artists such as Francesco Solimena and Francesco de Mura.

Also belonging to the original set of five were views of Messina, Posillipo, Castelnuovo and Naples: the last of these has been convincingly identified as the signed canvas, of similar dimensions to the present work (52 by 155 cm.), in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.²  The Prado painting also has putti supporting a cartouche with a key to locations, as here: these were presumably added by another artist, once the painting reached Spain from Naples, to provide a guide for the Queen since her son Carlos had become King of Naples (1734). Other variants of this composition, seen from a similar viewpoint but attributable to Tommaso Ruiz (to whom Juan was presumably related), are in private collections.³  The attribution to Juan Ruiz has been endorsed by Prof. Nicola Spinosa upon first-hand inspection.


1.  See Urrea Fernandez, under Literature.
2.  See Spinosa and Di Mauro, under Literature, p. 190, cat. no. 48, reproduced fig. 43.
3.  see N. Spinosa, Pittura Napoletana del Settecento dal Rococo al Classicismo, Naples 1987, p. 156, no. 273, reproduced fig. 369, or another, signed and dated 1749, in All'ombra del Vesuvio. Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, exh. cat., Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, 12 May - 29 July 1990, reproduced p. 249.