Probably of Roman origin, Bonavia spent all of his career in Naples. Despite the number of surviving works, very little is known about his life. The parameters of his activity are established by dated paintings, the earliest being the View of the Pier and the Lighthouse at Naples of 1751 (sold London, 11 March 1983, lot 171) and the latest the View of the Castel dell’Ovo, Naples of 1788 (Honolulu Academy of Art). Although his technique reflects that of Salvator Rosa, the strongest influence on Bonavia was the great French painter of marines Claude-Joseph Vernet, who worked in Naples between 1736 and 1746. Vernet’s subject matter, viewpoint, choice of vivid and varied colours, and emotional involvement are echoed in his paintings to such an extent that they have on occasion even been mistaken as works by the French artist.  Examples are the Coastal Landscape of 1754 and The Waterfall of 1755 in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. Among his patrons were Lord Brudenell, who commissioned an Eruption of Vesuvius by Moonlight, signed and dated 1757 (Lord Montagu Collection, Beaulieu) and Graf Karl Joseph Firmian, Austrian Ambassador to Naples 1753-8, who owned seventeen of his works. Bonavia was famous in his day and was praised by Pietro Zani in his Enciclopedia Metodico-Critica Ragionata delle Belle Arti (1794) as a fine painter of views and history subjects.