Sua Città Capitale (Avellino)

View taken from the Atlante Corografico, Statistico, Storico, ed Idrografico del Regno delle Due Sicilie Diviso ne Domini al di qua ed al di la del Faro by Giuseppe Bifezzi, printed in Naples, Tipografia alla Sibilla, 1836-1845.

This is the definitive edition of Calabrian geographer Giuseppe Bifezzi's important survey of the peninsular part of the Kingdom of Naples. The work came out in Naples between 1836 and 1845 in 15 parts, each consisting of text and plates, and is very rare. The project also included a second part concerning Sicily, which was never realized.

The volume is illustrated by a general map of the Kingdom of Naples, 2 plates depicting the main lakes of the Kingdom, 15 maps with watercolor borders, corresponding to the 15 provinces, 16 views: Naples, Caserta, Capua, Salerno, Potenza, Avellino, Foggia, Bari, Lecce, Cosenza, Catanzaro, Reggio Calabria, Campobasso, Chieti, Aquila, Teramo, and 16 plates of costumes of the different provinces. The views and costumes are lithographs by Giuseppe D'Onofrio from drawings by Francesco Wenzel.

Franz Wenzel, better known by his Italianized name of Francesco, was a lithographer active in Naples between 1827 and 1850 based at Largo S. Caterina a Chiaja n.74 and 75.

Wenzel belongs to the group of German artists in Naples from the first half of the 19th century, where the use of the German imported printing technique, lithography, became generalized. In 1816 Müller and Patrelli introduced the cheaper and faster lithography to the Kingdom, and in 1823 Military Lithography was born. After the introductory beginnings, lithographic establishments already active in the 1825s-30s grew (Cuciniello/Bianchi, Richter, Wenzel, Zezon), implanting in the second half of the century various lithographic-type enterprises (Nobile, Giannini, Morano).

Litograph, with fine later hand colour, very good condition.