The Flemish Room at the Royal Palace of Naples in Italy

The Flemish Room The Flemish Gallery at the Royal Palace of Naples displays paintings by Flemish masters, hence its name.

Charles Clay’s musical clock

There is also a musical clock of exceptional historical importance, built in 1730 by Charles Clay in collaboration with Georg Friedrich Händel.

This astonishing musical clock, in perfect condition, is capable of playing ten different musical themes.

Charles Clay, Musical clock, with mechanical organ and automatons, in the Flemish Hall of the Royal Palace of Naples

Clay, Musical Clock These musical themes correspond to five adaptations of works by Handel performed in London between 1727 and 1729 (Lothaire, Siroes, King of Perseus, and Richard I, King of England) and five other pieces by composers who remain unknown, which were probably composed specifically for Clay.

This clock is a small barrel organ with a musical drum connected to 51 copper rods, to which are attached seventeen wooden organ pipes with valves to play tunes combining harpsichord and wind instruments.

This clock is also an automaton that animates the arms and instruments of the musicians in the foreground of the small orchestra painted above the clock face, in time with the music.

Pedestal table with birdcage, bouquet of flowers and views of Saint Petersburg, the Flemish Room at the Royal Palace of Naples

Pedestal table and birdcage This clock is also historically significant, as it is an example of the research and inventions of the 18th century.

The pedestal table with an aviary and a bouquet of flowers

In the same Flemish Room there is also a Pedestal table presented by Tsar Nicholas I to Ferdinand II.

This Pedestal table, made in 1830 by the Russian Gorbunovo manufactory, features views of Saint Petersburg in Sèvres porcelain.

A superb bouquet of flowers painted on metal sits on its top.

At the very top of the pedestal table is a gilded bronze aviary with Sèvres porcelain inserts.

Gennaro Maldarelli “Tancred sends Constance of Hauteville back to Henry VI”

Fresco - Water-based pigments on Coating - 1840

Maldarelli, Tancred and Constance of Hauteville On the ceiling hangs a painting by Gennaro Maldarelli from 1840, entitled “Tancred sends Constance of Hauteville back to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor”

In this painting, the artist has depicted the Norman king Tancred of Lecce (1138–1194) who, after defeating the Swabian king Henry VI, presents gifts to Empress Constance of Hauteville (whom he had taken prisoner in Salerno) before sending her back to her husband.

The image of this act of generosity on the part of King Tancred illustrated the moral virtues of the Neapolitan dynasty at a crucial moment in its history.