Full Record |
| Title |
Still Life with Fish |
| Collection |
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery |
| Artist |
Recco, Giuseppe (Italian painter, 1634-1695) |
| Date Earliest |
about 1660 |
| Date Latest |
about 1670 |
| Signed |
yes |
| Description |
Giuseppe Recco came from a Neapolitan dynasty of artists, and was one of the most celebrated still-life painters of early seventeenth-century Italy. This canvas shows several types of fish and shellfish (including sea-bass, plaice, red snapper, crayfish and a crab) arranged on a table and on top of an upturned glazed earthenware bowl. Following the Caravaggesque tradition, the artist has chosen a dark background and a strong, directed light. Special attention has been paid to the texture of the still-wet scales on the taut, fresh fish; this is rendered in glistening, bold impasto highlights of almost pure lead white. |
| Current Accession Number |
1997.127.1 |
| Inscription |
front ll 'G.ise R' |
| Subject |
still life (fish); animal (fish, crab, crayfish, sea urchin, mollusc) |
| Measurements |
59.0 x 90 cm.0 cm (estimate) |
| Material |
oil on canvas |
| Acquisition Details |
Purchased from the widow of Eric E. Young 1997. |
| Provenance |
Eric E. Young, 1963-1997. |
| Principal Exhibitions |
The Eric Young Collection, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, 1969, cat. no. 4, ill.; Painters and Decorators, Northampton Central Museum, 1998, cat. no. 21. |
| Notes |
Most of Recco's works are signed, including this one. This particular example, with its simple composition, is probably an early work since it has none of the theatricality of Recco's later paintings. |
| Rights Owner |
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery |
| Author |
Pablo Pérez d'Ors; Dr Angela Smith |
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