Giuseppe Recco

Art market, Madrid;

Where acquired by the present owner in 1969.

F.G. Meijer, Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat., San Diego 2016, p. 36, no. 34, reproduced in colour;

S. Thomas, A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection, exh. cat., Saint Petersburg, Florida 2019, pp. 70–71 and 99, no. 30, reproduced in colour.

Born into a distinguished dynasty of artists, Giuseppe Recco is arguably the most celebrated Neapolitan still-life painter of his generation, excelling in the depiction of complex arrangements of fish and crustaceans. Born in Naples in 1634, he is likely to have been trained in the workshops of his father Giacomo Recco (b. 1603; d. before 1653) and uncle Giovanni Batista Recco (c. 1615–1660). He spent the vast majority of his career in Naples and was later summoned, together with his daughter Elena, also an acclaimed still-life painter, to the court of Charles II of Spain (1661–1700) in 1695. The present work is a characteristic and well-preserved example of Recco’s style, exemplifying his ability to depict dazzling surfaces and a variety of contrasting textures.