Ferdinand IV Riding a Horse with the Court

Antonio Joli painted this ceremonial equestrian scene in 1760, capturing Ferdinand IV of Naples — then still a boy king — in a formal court procession attended by dignitaries. Joli had become the leading theatrical and veduta painter at the Neapolitan court after arriving from Venice via London and Madrid, and his skills in rendering architecture, crowds, and open-air pageantry were ideally suited to dynastic commemorations. The Bourbon kingdom of Naples staged elaborate public ceremonies to project royal legitimacy, and painted records of these events served both as diplomatic gifts and as decorations for palace interiors. Joli's composition draws on the Italian tradition of the cavalcade painting, placing the young monarch at the centre of a carefully ordered retinue against recognisable Neapolitan topography. Now in the Museo di Capodimonte, the work belongs to the broader series of court paintings that document Bourbon ceremonial life in Naples before the disruptions of the Napoleonic era.

Joli balances topographical precision with the pageantry of Rococo figure painting, using a high viewpoint to spread the procession across the canvas. His architectural elements are rendered with the measured accuracy of a trained vedutista, while figures are handled more loosely.