Circle of GIUSEPPE BONITO (Castellammare di Stabia, 1707 - Naples, 1789). "Portrait of a gentleman, ca.1770. Oil on canvas. Size: 102 x 84 cm; 123 x 107 cm (frame). In this painting, a marquis or court personage has been represented in three quarters, following very closely the plastic brilliance of the Neapolitan rococo, one of whose stellar figures was Giuseppe Bonito. Bonito s influence is evident in the satin colouring of the sumptuous velvet coat, the gold thread brocade, the fine lace on the sleeves... The character s countenance, with its subtly shimmering flesh tones, conveys an aristocratic personality, in keeping with his status. The knotted kerchief around his neck enhances his haughty demeanour. The drapery extends into fine batiste that adorns the chest. Giuseppe Bonito was one of the most influential Neapolitan painters of the 18th century. A disciple of Francesco Solimena, he soon turned towards Rococo delicacy. It was his portraits that opened the doors of the Neapolitan court to him, along with numerous commissions for altarpieces and frescoes for churches. As a court painter, in 1741 he painted a remarkably realistic portrait of the Ottoman Sultan s embassy in Naples, which was immediately sent to Madrid and is now in the Museo del Prado. Around 1745 he portrayed Charles VII of the Two Sicilies, the future Charles III of Spain, and his wife Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony in two portraits also in the Prado. The portrait of the Infantes Ferdinand and Gabriel in the Caserta Palace, painted shortly before the proclamation of Ferdinand, who was only eight years old, as king of Naples, is particularly noteworthy, painted in the studio with a compass in his hand in front of a globe. In 1751 he was appointed chamber painter, a member of the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome in 1752, director of the newly established Academy of Fine Arts in Naples in 1755 and director of the Royal Tapestry Factory in Naples, for which he provided a series of allegorical and literary cartoons, including the first cartoons for a series of illustrations of Don Quixote woven between 1758 and 1779 for the Royal Palace in Caserta.