Pair Of Still Lifes With Fishs, attributed toElena Recco (1654 - 1700)

Elena Recco (Naples, 1654–1700) Attributed to  

Pair of still lifes with fish  

Oil on canvas 72 x 96 cm. Framed: 85 x 108 cm.  

Provenance: Finarte, Milan, October 23, 2007, lot 517, Estimate: €18,000 – €20,000 (page 189 of the catalog)  Ponte, Milan, June 9, 2009, lot 144, Estimate: €15,000 – €16,000 https://www.ponteonline.com/en/lot-details/auction/261/lot/144/?utm_source=mutualart&utm_medium=...  

A refined pair of still lifes depicting compositions of fish, crustaceans, and catch arranged within a shadowy setting, with a wide panoramic view in the background.  

The works stand out for their evocative use of light, playing on deep chiaroscuro contrasts, and for the careful naturalistic rendering of the various fish species, characterized by brilliant silvery reflections and remarkable textural quality.  

The canvases, which show clear affinities with the Neapolitan still-life tradition that developed between the late 17th and early 18th centuries, are traditionally attributed to Elena Recco (Naples 1654 – Madrid 1715), one of the most important female painters of the Neapolitan school, renowned for her extraordinary expertise in still lifes of fish.  

Following in her father’s footsteps—her father was the famous master Giuseppe Recco—she developed a unique personal style that makes her works easily recognizable to art experts. 

The theatrical arrangement of the catch, the dark, Baroque-inspired atmosphere, and the rendering of light on the surfaces evoke the tradition established by her family, within which Elena developed a personal painterly sensibility, highly regarded in the aristocratic collections of Naples and Rome.  

A close look at the two works under consideration here allows us to identify all the distinctive characteristics of the artist’s oeuvre: to achieve the chromatic rendering of the scales, her compositions feature typical gray-blue hues, while the bodies of the fish shimmer with silvery and metallic reflections, rendered with a textured paint application;  

In her paintings, the fish with their shimmering scales and the details of the catch stand out dramatically against dark, atmospheric backgrounds, creating that characteristic dramatic contrast derived precisely from the tradition of the Southern Caravaggist school.  

The quality of her work earned her an invitation from the Spanish king to move to the court in Madrid in 1695—an honor granted only to established artists—where she worked to great acclaim and received important commissions.  

Today, her paintings can be found in renowned collections such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the National Museum in Warsaw, and in the Federico Zeri Foundation’s catalog.  
 

Ref: D4988I0ZFQ