Circle of GIEPPE RECCO (Naples, 1634 - Alicante, 1695); Naples, 17th century. "Vanitas". Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. Measurements: 63 x 48,5 cm. Very appreciated within the antiquarian market, as well as among collectors and art historians, the Neapolitan still life school of the Baroque enjoyed a spectacular development, leaving behind the splendours of the 16th century and progressing within a fully Baroque and clearly identifiable style. Artists such as Tommaso Realfonso, Nicola Casissa, Gaspare Lopez, Gio Nani and Baldassare de Caro continued the local tradition by specialising in the painting of flowers, fruit, fish and game, th satisfying the demands of a vast clientele characterised by a new 17th-century taste. In addition to these artists, there are also the minor figures who are slowly emerging from an unjt oblivion, and some artists who worked between the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Francesco della Questa, Aniello Ascione, Nicola Malinconico, Gaetano Cati, Onofrio Loth, Elena and Nicola Maria Recco, Gieppe Ruoppolo and Andrea Belvedere. These Neapolitan still-life painters, who worked during the 17th and early 18th centuries, are known as "i generisti" and were important not only in their own environment but also, and especially, in Spain, where the development of the genre was clearly marked by Italian influence, particularly the contribution of the Neapolitan school. Today this school is considered one of the most outstanding within the Baroque still life genre. The distinguishing mark of Neapolitan Baroque painters was always their strong naturalistic character and their warm chromaticism, with a dominance of reddish and earthy tones. The style of the work belongs to an aesthetic defined within the artistic circle of the painter Gieppe Recco, who was one of the most influential still-life painters in Naples. His training was linked to his family, who were also involved in painting, and it is thought that his artistic education began in Lombardy. His work is characterised by a naturalistic language linked to tenebrism and contrasts of colour, particularly centred on the subject of the still life, in which he explored a wide variety of elements. Throughout his artistic career he worked for numero Spanish nobles and vicarages in Naples, which led him to be requested by Charles II, but he died on his arrival in Spain.Dimensions: 63 x 48.5 cm.