The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies comprised Naples and the island of Sicily. Under King Ferdinand IV and Queen Maria-Carolina it proved a valuable foothold for British Mediterranean operations until it was annexed by Napoleon in 1806. The picture shows the splendour of the Neapolitan Court on the move, with richly furnished ships progressing with full pomp. In 1785 the King and Queen commenced a protracted grand tour in Italy. They embarked at Naples on 30 April on a richly decorated ship, followed by twelve men-of-war and sailing initially to Leghorn. They travelled with such magnificence and liberality that Ferdinand acquired the name of the 'Golden Monarch'.

This painting marks the city of Naples great festivities when they returned from Leghorn in 1786.The lighthouse on the outer angle of the mole at Naples is shown on the far right in the foreground. Numbers of people stand on the wall to look at the procession while others, less grand in status, are arranged on the rocks below. There is a large ship in the centre and men-of-war to the left, while the harbour is full of small Mediterranean coastal craft and Italian galleys. Serres was probably at Naples to witness the return of Ferdinand and Maria-Carolina - who was a daughter of the Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria and sister of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France (beheaded in the French Revolution). Their court at Naples and their Sicialian capital, Palermo, was characterized by display and extravagance, and the scene of welcome which Serres depicts confirms this.

Serres was a well-born Frenchman from Gascony who ran away to sea in merchant service rather than follow family wish that he enter the Church. He probably arrived in England as a naval prisoner of war, took up painting and settled there. His early paintings show the influence of Brooking and Monamy's interpretations of Dutch art but he rapidly achieved recognition for his more documentary visual accounts of sea actions of the Seven Years War, 1756-63, becoming established as England's leading marine painter. His work was even more in demand in the 1770s and 1780s, recording the naval history of the War of American Independence. In 1768 Serres was a founder member of the Royal Academy and at the end of his life its librarian. A well respected and sociable man, he was appointed Marine Painter to George III in 1780. This painting, which is signed and dated 'D Serres pinxt London 1787', was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1789.