Southern Italy through Capodimonte collections: The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database

This paper will present two examples of the importance of mining a specific collection for images to enrich a database, in this case those of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples for The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database. The work focuses on two collections: the Astarita collection, the life drawings and watercolors by Giacinto Gigante and other exponents of the School of Posillipo, and the representation of architectural views of prized monuments in a collection of 19th-century porcelain produced by Ginori manufacture.

Although the two collections differ profoundly in style and medium, both reveal a fascination with, perhaps even the exaltation of, the historic monuments of Naples.