Carlo Bonavia
Illustration — Carlo Bonavia's oil painting Teverone Cascade, 1787, Honolulu Museum of Art Carlo Bonavia (died 1788) was an Italian painter known for idyllic landscape paintings, engravings and drawings. He is thought to be from Rome, but worked in Naples from about 1751 to 1788. He was trained in the Neapolitan landscape tradition of Salvator Rosa (1615–1673) and Leonardo Coccorante (1680–1750), but was much more strongly influenced by the work of Claude Joseph Vernet, who visited Naples in 1737 and 1746.
Also recorded as Calebonario · Carlo Bonaria · Carlo Bonario · B. Bonario
Carlo Bonavia
Carlo Bonavia · Honolulu Academy of Arts · Public domain
- Died
- 1788 · Naples.
- Occupation
- painter
- Fields
- landscape
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Illustration — Carlo Bonavia's oil painting Teverone Cascade, 1787, Honolulu Museum of Art Carlo Bonavia (died 1788) was an Italian painter known for idyllic landscape paintings, engravings and drawings. He is thought to be from Rome, but worked in Naples from about 1751 to 1788. He was trained in the Neapolitan landscape tradition of Salvator Rosa (1615–1673) and Leonardo Coccorante (1680–1750), but was much more strongly influenced by the work of Claude Joseph Vernet, who visited Naples in 1737 and 1746.
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wikidata · Q2939161 · wikipedia · Carlo Bonavia
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Bonavia's paintings share with Vernet's a rococo palette of pale blues, creamy yellows, pinks and soft green, as well as an atmospheric, rather than analytical, approach to landscape. Like Vernet, Bonavia painted capricci in which real features of the Neapolitan countryside were placed in imaginary settings. Bonavia's idyllic landscapes were popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour. Among his patrons were Lord Brudenell and Count Karl Joseph Firmian, the Austrian ambassador to Naples 1753–8. Bonavia had a very successful career and was praised by Pietro Zani in his Enciclopedia Metodica Critico Ragionata delle Belle Arte (1794) as a fine painter of views and history subjects. The Accademia di San Luca (Rome), the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museo di Capodimonte (Naples) and Stourhead (Wiltshire, England), Basildon Park (National Trust, Berkshire, England) are among the public collections having paintings by Carlo Bonavia.
Subjects and genres recorded for the work are landscape. Places of work recorded in the authority are Naples. Work by Carlo Bonavia is recorded in the collections of National Museum Frei Manuel do Cenáculo, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Führermuseum, The Tullie and Compton Verney Art Gallery.
• Illustration — “Storm off Rocky Coast”, 1757 • Illustration — Carlo Bonavia's oil painting Castel dell'Ovo, Naples, 1788, Honolulu Museum of Art • Illustration — Painting by Carlo Bonavia
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1750
Carlo Bonavia born at Rome.
1788
Carlo Bonavia died at Naples.
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Rome.
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Naples.
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Recognition and collections
Work by Carlo Bonavia is
National Museum Frei Manuel do Cenáculo, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Führermuseum and The Tullie
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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