Pietro Bardellino. Pastoral Scene with a Figure in Oriental Costume

Pastoral Scene with a Figure in Oriental Costume

Oil on canvas, 62 × 136.5 cm
Attributed to Pietro Bardellino (Naples, 1728–1819)
Naples, circa 1755–1760

This refined painting belongs to the Neapolitan Rococo period, when court painting turned toward lighter, more worldly themes. The bucolic scene depicts three young figures in a theatrical attitude: at the center a woman receives a basket of fruit, while on the right a youth dressed in white with a red turban introduces an exotic and playful note, inspired by the contemporary taste for turqueries and theatrical masquerades.

Pietro Bardellino worked in Naples under the Bourbon dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily from 1734 to 1860. His style combined the graceful Neapolitan tradition with northern European influences introduced at the court of Maria Carolina of Saxony, wife of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). His softly contoured figures and delicate pastel tones reveal a luminous, decorative sensibility reflecting the cosmopolitan refinement of the age.

By its format and subject, the painting was likely part of a decorative ensemble for a villa or musical salon near Naples, where art, theater, and nature were harmoniously intertwined.

Pietro Bardellino (1728–1819) was among the leading painters of the Neapolitan Rococo. A pupil of Francesco De Mura, he decorated Bourbon churches and royal residences, distinguished by his elegant frescoes and airy palette. His work transformed the Baroque heritage into a lighter, ornamental language akin to the refined taste of European courts of the eighteenth century.

Dimensions with frame : 148cm x 72cm