The exhibition “Sir William e Lady Hamilton” at Gallerie d’Italia - Naples

Intesa Sanpaolo presents the exhibition “Sir William e Lady Hamilton” at the Gallerie d'Italia - Naples. English ambassador to the court of Ferdinand IV of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, William Hamilton was an important player on the Neapolitan cultural scene of the 18th century and the exhibition is dedicated to him - diplomat, antiquarian and vulcanologist - and to the legendary figure of Lady Emma Hamilton.

The exhibition shows seventy-eight works including paintings, ceramics, sculptures and artefacts from important national and international museums: works that highlight William Hamilton’s multifaceted personality and interest in vulcanology, landscape painting, music and collecting, as well as the role he played in society, and Neapolitan society in particular, one that was amplified by the figure of his second wife.

Proof of his great passion for antiques and science, for example, can be seen in his original collection of painted Greek vases from Herculaneum, Pompeii, Southern Italy and Greece: the sale of part of this collection to the British Museum in 1772 had a strong influence on British antique collecting and tastes.

As did the publication of one of the most beautiful and famous illustrated books of all time, the magnificent Antiquités etrusques, grecques et romaines: five hundred engraved and decorated panels, hand painted in watercolours, which reproduced the paintings on the vases.

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s scientific passion for exceptional natural phenomena such as volcanoes and earthquakes was embodied by another famous venture he promoted: the 1776 publication of the Campi Phlegræi volumes in Naples, which were joined in 1779 by the Account of the Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a work illustrated by a team led by painter Pietro Fabris, his companion on excursions to the slopes of Vesuvius and Etna. This interest in science and nature led him to become a champion and collector of landscape paintings.

The exhibition also highlights the figure of Lady Hamilton - an adventuress better known as Emma Hart - whose charm is immortalised in portraits by George Romney and Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein as well as by other painters of the time who portray her in the guise of classical and legendary figures, enhancing the image of a woman who would acquire legendary status for her beauty, personality and free spirit.

The exhibition, curated by Francesco Leone and Fernando Mazzocca, was produced with the support of the British Embassy in Rome and the Italian Embassy in London, and the endorsement of the Municipality of Naples and the University of Naples Federico II.

The Naples museum, along with those of Milan, Turin and Vicenza, is part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Gallerie d’Italia museum project.

Open to the public from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025.

For information on opening times and admissions, visit the Gallerie d'Italia website.