# The Royal Procession to the Church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [JOLI, Antonio]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 55 x 97 cm ## Commentary The Royal Procession to the Church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta c. 1770 Oil on canvas, 55 x 97 cm Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples The painting depicts the royal procession that, according to a tradition established in 1734 by the Bourbon king, Charles Vii of Naples, wound its way through festive crowds along the Neapolitan seafront from the Palazzo Reale to the sanctuary of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta, an ancient place of worship and widespread popular devotion. Joli had painted the same event earlier, between 1756 and 1760. He depicted Naples and its seafront with the royal procession from two vantage points: from the east, with a view of the hill of Posillippo in the distance, and from the west, with the smoking Mount Vesuvius in the background. These two viewpoints were first employed by Caspar van Wittel at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and they subsequently became part of the repertory of all painters of Neapolitan vedute. ## Related artworks - [Architectural Capriccio]() - [Architectural Capriccio with Figures]() - [Arrival of Charles III in Naples]() - [Capriccio with Elegant Figures]() - [Rome: View of the Colosseum and The Arch of Constantine]() - [Rome: View of the Tiber]() - [Rome: View of the Tiber]() - [View of La Iglesia y la Plaza de San Antonio, Aranjuez]() - [View of London]() - [View of the Bay of Naples]() - [View of the Forum Romanum]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()