Ceiling of Ballroom decorated for the Marriage of the King of Naples to the Archduchess of Austria 1700 - 1773

Luigi Vanvitelli made this drawing of the ceiling of a ballroom for the marriage of the King of Naples to the Archduchess of Austria. We see a highly ornamented design of framed ovals containing figural and decorative elements. As a social historian, I am interested in how the ballroom, and the marriage it commemorates, reflect the political and social life of the time. In the 18th century, dynastic marriages like this were not simply romantic affairs. They were instrumental in cementing alliances between powerful families and nations. This ballroom, therefore, was a stage on which the theater of power was played out. The Neapolitan court, for which Vanvitelli worked, was an important center of patronage and power. To fully understand this drawing, we might consult period accounts of the wedding celebrations, architectural treatises, and genealogical records. This can shed light on how the design served to legitimize the Bourbon monarchy and communicate its ambitions to the world. What can we learn from the history of art? That its meaning is always tied to the social and institutional contexts in which it’s made and viewed.