Giuseppe Recco

With Silvano Lodi, according to labels on the reverse.

The canvas has a recent and firm relining, which has resulted in a largely flattened surface. The paint surface is secure and clean. The colours remain strong. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a cloudy varnish and a very narrow band of retouching running along the upper and right edges, as well as very few small scattered retouchings, largely confined to the left third of the canvas. Overall the work is in good condition. The work is offered in a gilt molded frame with a few minor knocks.
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Giuseppe Recco was the leading Neapolitan still life painter of his generation.  Born to a family of still life painters celebrated for their naturalistic depictions of fruits and flowers, Giuseppe built upon the traditional Neapolitan style to practise a richer Baroque manner whilst never abandoning the order and clarity of his own style. In this painting we see a simple assemblage of sea creatures upon a table; Giuseppe’s naturalistic depiction of light creates a gleam of salty water on the fresh urchins and limpets piled up in a typically sparse and shadowy setting, and demonstrates good cause for the artist’s reputation for excellence in the sub-genre of marine still lifes. A similar treatment of the depiction of the urchins and clams is seen in a signed work by Recco, sold Naples, Casa d'Aste Blindarte, 25 November 2012, lot 591.

It has been suggested that the popularity of marine still lifes among Neapolitan artists and collectors is perhaps in part due to the fresh fish in the paintings signifying the fish that Masaniello bought to the viceroy and Neapolitan nobles during the insurrection of 1647, thus conjuring up the humility and local origins of this romantic figure, once seen as a defender of the city’s inhabitants from the oppressive rule of the governing Spanish.¹

1. See C. Whitfield, Painting in Naples 1606-1705, exhibition catalogue, London 1982, p. 223, under no. 115.