Lot 1077 | Still Life with Redfish, Sardines, Sea Urchin and Seafood Basket

RECCO, GIOVANNI BATTISTA
Naples 1615 - 1660


Title: Still Life with Redfish, Sardines, Sea Urchin and Seafood Basket.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Relined.
Measurement: 40 x 52,5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Probably collection of Guglielmo Ruffo, Prince of Scilla (1748), Naples;
Private ownership, Germany.

The present still life, which bears an inventory number in the lower left corner, has been assigned to the oeuvre of Giovanni Battista Recco by Valeria Di Fratta and Riccardo Lattuada. Giovanni Battista is the uncle of the better-known Giuseppe and is considered one of the most important Neapolitan painters of the first half of the 17th century who popularised the genre of the "fish still life".
The rustic appearance of the composition and the application of paint with slightly blurred brushstrokes are decisive elements for this attribution.
An archival document also speaks in favour of this attribution and also provides clues to a possible provenance. The inventory of 1 June 1748 of the painting collection of Guglielmo Ruffo, Prince of Scylla, lists a painting by Giovanni Battista Recco that is very similar to the present one. The document states: "Due quadri originali di Giovanni Battista Recco di palmi 2 1/2 e 2 colla cornice nera, e stragallo d'oro. Uno rappresenta alcune renghe, una triglia ed un panaro di marinaro", [A pair of paintings by Giovanni Battista Recco, approx. 65 x 52 cm, one of them with sardines, a mullet and a basket of seafood].
This quotation shows that the motif was common in the works of Giovanni Battista, who created a successful prototype with numerous variations (e.g. by adding a dragon's head, oysters and sea urchins).

We thank Valeria Di Fratta, Naples, who confirmed the attribution of the present work on the basis of a digital photograph, for her help in cataloguing the present lot.