Giuseppe Recco (1634-1695) – Still Life With Melons, Pears, Peaches, Plums

Signed at the bottom on the stone "Gios Recco 1671". Raw wood frame 19th century. Giuseppe Recco is a still life painter active in Naples in the 17th century. His artistic production includes a variety of paintings depicting fish, molluscs, game, flowers, vegetables and fruits, often decorated with signatures, dates and monograms. Born on July 12, 1634 in the parish of San Liborio and the son of a painter, he was trained by several Neapolitan artists, including Paolo Porpora, who introduced him to the representation of still lifes, in particular those of fish and seafood. One of his works, preserved at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, highlights his expertise in the representation of fruit. The arrangement of the elements, carefully thought out and geometrically organized, is bathed in a soft, silvery light, evoking the style of Giuseppe Ruoppolo, a contemporary of Recco. The cup decorated with a blue border and a pearl handle, visible on the left side of the painting, is also found in other works by the artist, notably the one kept at the National Museum in Warsaw.