Wild boar hunting

The work Wild boar hunting is, in all probability, part of the original nucleus of the Carditello Picture Gallery. It belongs to a series of large paintings of wild boar, deer, and hare hunting, present at the Royal Site of Carditello in 1792, and used to furnish the Royal Palace of “Ficuzza” during the exile in Palermo (1799 - 1815). The series probably never returned to Naples and in 1817 was replaced with the five paintings by Pieter Mulier known as “il Tempesta” (the Storm).

In 1894, the work – long kept at the Royal Palace of Caserta – was brought back to Carditello and, in 1911, was used to decorate the first floor of Tower No. 3.

Following the decommissioning of the site, the painting returned to Caserta, where it was recorded in the post-war inventories.

The canvas is stylistically influenced by the production of the Flemish artist Pieter Boel, however, today it does not appear to be of outstanding workmanship, perhaps also due to subsequent restorations.

Its author, Baldassarre De Caro, was certainly a point of reference for various local and foreign artists visiting the Caroline court during the 18th century. Among his productions, the hunting scenes painted for the Duke of Maddaloni and for Charles of Bourbon himself are famous.