Gennaro Maldarelli (Attribuito a) Italian, 1795-1858

Gennaro Maldarelli (Naples, Italy, 1795 – Naples, Italy, May 20, 1858)

Born in Naples in 1795, Gennaro Maldarelli trained in the workshop of Costanzo Angelini, a prominent figure of Neapolitan Neoclassicism.

Maldarelli gained recognition working almost exclusively in the service of the Bourbon dynasty during the years of the Second Restoration.

In 1827, he was appointed “master of the principles of figure drawing at the Elementary School of Drawing for Artisans” at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples.
Later, in 1844, he became an “honorary professor for school discipline with salary” at the same institution.

Throughout his career, he participated in various Bourbon exhibitions with a series of portraits and paintings on religious and mythological themes.

He decorated numerous noble residences, churches, and royal palaces in Naples and Caserta, including Villa Doria d’Angri in Posillipo, the Royal Palace of Naples, Palazzo Ruffo della Scaletta, and Palazzo San Teodoro.

Maldarelli also worked as an engraver, producing seventy drawings for the first fifteen volumes of the Real Museo Borbonico, depicting subjects from the frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum. He was the first to reproduce on paper the famous Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii.

The artist died in Naples in 1858.

Photo UniCredit Group (Sebastiano Pellion di Persano)