Study for "The Apotheosis of Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina, King and Queen of Naples" (for the Palazzo dei Regi Studi, Naples)

Bardellino employed soft, atmospheric modeling and a restrained palette to evoke a celestial realm. His brushwork is delicate, with translucent layers suggesting luminosity and depth. The figures are rendered with subtle gradations of tone, avoiding sharp contours, a technique aligned with late Baroque sensibilities. The composition is loosely structured, indicating its function as a working study rather than a polished presentation piece.

The sketch was long attributed to Bardellino based on stylistic parallels with another known preparatory work sold in New York in 1972. Both pieces are linked to the 1781 ceiling mural in Naples, though the Cleveland version was significantly revised in the final execution. The cartouche, central to this study, was removed from the completed ceiling, where the royal portraits replaced it. The sketch’s survival offers rare insight into the artist’s evolving design process.

Created during the height of Bourbon patronage in Naples, the ceiling project reflected the monarchy’s desire to align itself with divine authority through visual allegory. Bardellino’s work was part of a broader trend in 18th-century European courts to use ceiling painting as political propaganda. The emphasis on dynastic orders and celestial ascent mirrored similar projects in Vienna and Madrid, reinforcing the legitimacy of Bourbon rule through sacred imagery.

The sketch remains a valuable document of artistic practice in late 18th-century Naples, illustrating how large-scale decorative programs were developed through iterative studies. Its differences from the final ceiling highlight the flexibility of compositional planning and the role of symbolic substitution in courtly art. While overshadowed by the completed mural, the study preserves the conceptual origins of a significant Neapolitan decorative commission.