GIUSEPPE RECCO (attr. to) (Naples, 1634 - Alicante, 1695) Fish and Crustaceans Oil on paper applied on canvas, 25X31.5 cm Provenance: Vienna, Dorotheum, 15 October 2013, lot 792 (as attributed to Giuseppe Recco) Milan, private collection The son of Giacomo Recco, Giuseppe is to be regarded as one of the leading painters of seventeenth-century Neapolitan nature poses. Trained in the family workshop, the painter devoted himself mainly to genre production, but documents also speak of figurative scenes, including frescoes. Famous and in demand were the still lifes that depicted fish, molluscs and kitchen interiors with extraordinary verisimilitude. In this regard, it was in his maturity that he created elegant compositions dedicated to fish fauna, commonly presented on shelves or sea reefs with extraordinary visual intensity. These were the years in which the artist arrived at solutions of remarkable formal elegance, emancipating himself from the vigorous naturalism inferred from his father by looking to the examples of Paolo Porpora, Roman culture and pushing towards influences of a Nordic nature. The canvas under examination dates back to these years, around 1660, and best expresses the expressive qualities of the painter, who was able to be awarded the title of knight in 1671. Comparisons can be made with the Still Life with Fish and Turtle on a Rock also kept at Capodimonte, Fish and Shellfish and Fish and Shells from the Besançon Museum, works that share a close view and a refined mastery in expressing the full communion between early 17th century naturalism and the exuberance of Baroque aesthetics. With regard to the medium, the use of paper was not unusual for the execution of sketches or small works destined for collectors, as can also be seen in the small still life attributed to Giovanni Battista Recco (cf. Pagano 2009, pp. 396-397, no. 1.231). Reference bibliography: N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del '600, Milan 1984, figs. 609; 628 R. Middione, Giuseppe Recco, in La natura morta in Italia, edited by F. Porzio, II, Milan 1989, pp. 903-911 D.M. Pagano, in Ritorno al barocco. Da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli, exhibition catalogue edited by N. Spinosa, I, Naples 2009, p. 403, n. 1236 G. De Vito, Giacomo Recco fiorante, ma non solo, in Ricerche sul '600 napoletano. Saggi e documenti 2010-2011, Naples 2011, pp. 30-46 N. Spinosa, Pittura del Seicento a Napoli. Da Mattia Preti a Luca Giordano. Natura in posa, Naples 2011, pp. 132, 281-289, nos. 317-334