Artist

(b. 1603, Napoli, d. before 1653, Napoli)

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Details

Italian painter, part of a family of still-life painters, father of Giuseppe Recco. He was one of the first Neapolitan still-life painters, specializing exclusively in flower subjects and in part still inspired by late Mannerism. His only dated painting is a Vase of Flowers (1626; private collection), an early work influenced by Flemish still-life painting in its accurate depiction of nature and its brilliant colours. The Vase of Flowers with the Arms of Cardinal Poli (private collection) was once attributed to Giovanni da Udine and thus held to have been painted nearly a century earlier. It confirms Recco's tendency to adopt an archaic Mannerist style, which he enriched with echoes of the highly finished detail of Flemish still-life and of the light and naturalism of the work of Caravaggio. Examples of his few known works include Vase of Flowers (private collection), probably painted after 1626 but before the pendants Vases of Flowers (private collection), one of which is initialed GR. Giacomo Recco's work provided a model for the two major still-life artists of the second half of the 17th century, his son Giuseppe Recco and Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo. Paolo Porpora was Giacomo's pupil from 1632. //

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Category	Artists
Artists by letter	R
Artist nationality	Italian