Royal Palace of Naples Italy

The Royal Palace of Naples was one of the four royal residences used by the Bourbons of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It is situated in the heart of the city, on the monumental Piazza del Plebiscito. The construction of the Royal Palace of Naples was commissioned around 1600 to Domenico Fontana, at the request of Count Fernando Ruiz de Castro Andrade y Portugal (1548-1601), then Viceroy of Naples. During the 18^th century, the palace was redesigned by Luigi Vanvitelli, who gave it its present form. Between 1806 and 1815, it was embellished by Joachim Murat (1767-1815) and Caroline Bonaparte (1782-1839) with French neoclassical decorations and furnishings.

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Royal Residence
Royal Palace of Naples
Palazzo Reale Di Napoli

Country
Italie - Italia

Period of silk creation
XIX^esiècle

public textile

Name of the residence and name of the room:
Royal Palace of Naples, Ambassadors Room
Palazzo Reale di Napoli, Salone degli Ambasciatori

Period of creation:
19^thcentury

Materials and technique:
Lampas

Manufacturing location:
Italy, Caserta, San Leucio Silk Factories

Fragment of original lampas © Royal Palace Archive

This lampas was woven in the 19^th century by the San Leucio Silk Factories in Caserta, near Naples, to adorn the walls and furnishings of the Ambassadors Room. This salon forms part of the King’s Apartments and adjoins the Throne Room. Like the Throne Room, it overlooks a view of Piazza del Plebiscito. Originally, this salon was a passageway connecting the state rooms to the private apartments, known as the Grand Gallery, where numerous paintings were kept. When Ferdinand II decided in 1832 to transfer these works to the Bourbon Museum, it was transformed into a state salon and took the name of the Ambassadors Room. The fabric is adorned with a gold motif depicting a wreath of flowers, surmounted by ferns and framed by scrolls, on a blue background. The walls are also adorned with a series of tapestries by Louis Ovis de la Tour and the Gobelins Manufactory, on the theme of the History of Henry IV, dating from 1790 and acquired as prototypes for a series of tapestries intended to be woven in Naples and to adorn the royal estate of Carditello. The bombing during the Second World War and the subsequent military occupations caused very serious damage to the palace. The fabric has disappeared and has been replaced by a striped fabric.

Person associated:

San Leucio Silk manufacturers

Bibliographic sources:

A. Porzio, La Quadreria di Palazzo Reale nell’Ottocento, Napoli 1999
A. Fiadino, Architetti a artisti alla Corte di Napoli in età Napoleonica, Napoli 2008
AA.VV., Il Palazzo Reale di Napoli, Napoli 2014