Via Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, 44 - Napoli (NA)

Manager: dott.ssa Imma Ascione

Palazzo Carafa di Santa Severina is a Renaissance residence built on a small hill of mount Echia at the end of the ancient borough of Pizzofalcone. It was expropriated after Masaniello's uprising and confiscated as a military property.
In 1808, the palace was assigned to the Caserma dei Granatieri of the Guardia Reale and Biblioteca Militare.
In 1814 Murat established here the so-called Officio Topografico directed by Ferdinando Visconti, keeping this function until 1861, when the institute was incorporated in that of Turin. In the Neapolitan factory the new typographical art of lithography was developed and tested. The camera lucida and the lithography technique were used to develop still-life views to print. This technique, together with the use of colour, also acquired strongly realistic effects and was much appreciated by illustrators and engravers, both in the military environment and in other contexts. Among the artists who used the first camera lucida instruments between 1817 and 1818 we can remember Carlo Teodoro Müller, Luigi Fergola and Gennaro Aloja, who were employees in the institute, but also Achille Vianelli, Giacinto Gigante, Lorenzo Bianchi, Salvatore Fergola and more, who joined the School of Posillipo.
(MV)

Status: Open