Filmed as part of the Spring 2021 Digital Research Seminars presented by scholars affiliated with the O’Donnell Institute’s Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities in Naples.
9 April 2021
Annelise Hone and Amy Orrock
Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park
The Naples Collection at Compton Verney
Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park in the UK is home to a small but perfectly formed collection of paintings, sculptures and decorative pieces from Naples. Acquired by Compton Verney’s founder, the philanthropist Sir Peter Moores (1931-2016), between 1993 and 2008, the Naples Collection was first opened to the public in 2004. Since then it has remained largely unchanged, occupying a wing of the historic country house in Warwickshire that Moores bought to house it. The collection includes examples of large-scale Baroque paintings by Francesco Solimena and Luca Giordano, views by Riccardelli, Vanvitelli and Volaire, still lives by Giovan Battista Ruoppolo and Paolo Porpora, sculptures by Lorenzo Vaccaro, as well as items of furniture, coral scenes and cabinets made in Trapani. This talk focuses on the shape and character of this collection at a pivotal moment, as we look ahead to its redisplay and consider new ways to connect meaningfully with scholars, researchers and audiences.
BIOS
Annelise Hone, Collections Manager, manages all six of the permanent collections at Compton Verney, has overseen several large-scale re-displays and enjoys working with such a varied collection: archaistic Chinese bronzes, a Neapolitan Collection, Northern European Collection, British Portraits Collection, British Folk Art, and popular art which inspired the 20th century designer Enid Marx. Annelise previously managed Compton Verney’s temporary exhibitions programme & was in similar roles at other galleries in the Midlands. Annelise has a Museum Studies MA and is keen to find new ways for audiences to access the collections, especially since we are now able to plan a redisplay of the Naples collection.
Dr. Amy Orrock, Senior Curator. A specialist in Northern European art and visual culture, Amy’s research interests include portraiture, the body, and the art of the Bruegel dynasty. Amy completed her BA at University College London and her Masters and PhD at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Since then Amy has worked on projects at the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Collection and the Holburne Museum. Amy has been at Compton Verney for three years, during which time she has curated exhibitions on child portraiture and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Amy is keen to expand her knowledge of Neapolitan art, with a view to planning a redisplay of the Naples collection in 2023.