Giuseppe Recco
Place Born
NaplesPlace Died
AlicanteBio
The son of Giacomo Recco, one of the first Neapolitan Fioranti artists to specialize in large scale compositions of flowers, Giuseppe Recco is among the most interesting figures in the evolution of genre painting in the second half of the seventeenth century. Continuing the great naturalistic tradition of Neapolitan painting, he combines elements derived from characteristic kitchen interiors and still lifes with fish, as painted by his uncle, Giovanni Battista, with new forms introduced by Paolo Popora. Critics have speculated on a possible contact with the Bergamesque still life painter, Evaristo Baschenis. In fact, the austerity and immobility of Reccos compositions distinguish them from the extrovert and exuberant manner of most of his contemporaries and seem rather to have been inspired by the more intimate approach of the Lombard tradition. It is also possible that these qualities could have been introduced from Francesco Fieravino, called Il Maltese, or from the Marseilles artist Meifren Conte who was active in Rome between 1651 and 1654. At the end of his career Recco was invited by Charles II of Bourbon to visit Spain where he died soon after his arrival.