125 - Gaetano Gigante (Napoli, 1770 - 1840) La tarantella 1825 oil on canvas cm 23x31

Gaetano Gigante (Napoli, 1770 - 1840) La tarantella 1825 oil on canvas cm 23x31 Signed "Gigante" in the lower leftProvenance:Santangelo family collection, NaplesExhibitions:*Balli d’amore. Tarantella e Saltarello tra colto e popolare* ("Dances of Love: Tarantella and Saltarello between High and Popular Culture"), Museo Casa Natale di Gabriele d'Annunzio, Pescara, February–April 2018; Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo, L’Aquila, July–September 2018Literature:Exhibition catalogue, *Balli d’amore. Tarantella e Saltarello tra colto e popolare*, Rome 2019, pp. 20–21, 56–57, ill. 16This painting, dated 1825, is presented here as a preparatory sketch for the central section of the large-scale work *Festa popolare della Madonna dell’Arco* ("Popular Festival of the Madonna dell’Arco"), held at the Museo Nazionale di San Martino in Naples. Indeed, the figures depicted dancing *en plein air* to the accompaniment of a *calascione* (a long-necked lute) and a tambourine appear at the very center of the scene in the famous painting at San Martino. The work of Gaetano Gigante—the renowned father of Giacinto Gigante—is characterized by a fluid, straightforward style. It translates the late 18th-century tradition of genre painting—reminiscent of artists like Fedele Fischetti—into a more popular idiom, drawing upon the rich anthropological heritage of festivals in the Campania region, rendered with a realistic approach and a striking, vibrant use of color. A pupil of Giacinto Diano, the elder Gigante was influenced by the late 18th-century style of Pietro Fabris and Alessandro d’Anna, evident in the elegant balance of his scenic compositions. This influence is coupled with a particular focus on the Neapolitan tradition of sculptural nativity scenes (*presepi*)—a subject for which his family’s passion as collectors is well known (cf. Sergio Ortolani, *La pittura di paesaggio a Napoli e in Italia dal ‘600 all’800*, edited by Luisa Martorelli, published by Franco di Mauro, Naples 2009).CASA SANTANGELO COLLECTION