The Bay of Naples, La Spezia and Gibraltar from the Sea
The Bay of Naples, La Spezia and Gibraltar from the Sea
Couldn't load pickup availability
- ✓Shipping with real-time tracking
- ✓Handmade in 4-5 working days
or a special size? • Chat with us
The artwork
Top, in the first view, the island with the round tower on its summit is Nisida, which the engraver spells “Nisita”: in July 44 BC Brutus, the man of the Ides of March, sat there waiting for news. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.
- Three views from the sea: the Bay of Naples, La Spezia and Gibraltar, hand-coloured.
- The soft tones of the aquatint bring light to a living room.
- A gift for anyone from Naples or La Spezia.
That year Marcus Junius Brutus was praetor, and it fell to him to give the Games of Apollo in Rome. After Caesar's murder he had them held without him and stayed on the island. On 8 July Cicero crossed over from Pozzuoli to visit him and found him deeply upset: in Rome the games had been announced for the “Nones of July”, using the new name the month had taken in Caesar's honour. Brutus said that he would have the wild-beast hunt of the following day announced under the old name, Quintilis.
The plate belongs to The Little Sea Torch, published in London in 1801 by John Thomas Serres for those who sailed along the coast, and it is a hand-coloured aquatint. Serres had seen this bay himself: in 1790 he travelled as far as Naples, and on his return he began signing himself “Giovanni T Serres”. The first view also shows Posillipo, engraved as “Pansilipo”, and Capri on the horizon; below come the Gulf of La Spezia and the New Mole of Gibraltar, which was not so new after all: the Spanish had begun it in 1620. The copy reproduced here belongs to the David Rumsey Map Collection.
It looks good in a bright living room or above a chest of drawers, and it is a gift for anyone who spent their childhood between Posillipo and Bagnoli, or who was born in La Spezia. And Nisida, up there, is still waiting for news from Rome.
Unique quality material
Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass
Do you have any questions about our works?
How an Amalfi art print is made, what the frame is like, what museum glass is, how long shipping takes, and how returns work: we’ve gathered all the answers on a single page.