Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 13 October 1989, lot 178 (as Circle of Ruoppolo);
Where acquired.

Turin, Fondazione Accorsi, L'incantesimo dei sensi: una collezione di nature morte del Seicento per il Museo Accorsi, 30 November 2005 - 1 May 2006, no. 15.

A. Cottino, L'Incantesimo dei sensi, Una collezione di nature morte del Seicento per il Museo Accorsi, exhibition catalogue, Turin 2005, pp. 72-73, 108, cat. no. 15, reproduced.

The canvas is relined and is stable on its stretcher. The paint presents a strong and impressive image and reads well beneath a clear varnish. Some faint frame abrasion visible at extreme edges, though this is not distracting. Inspection under UV reveals a slightly milky varnish, Old retouches are visible at the extreme edges, primarily in the shadows, for example along lower left edge, along the upper edge, and in the shadows of the upper right quadrant, some of which are visible to the naked eye. Some fine lines of retouching scattered here and there in the background and in the still life, for example in the center of the fruit at lower right. A thin line of retouching runs horizontally through the lower quadrant, possibly to address an old crease. Another thin line of retouching is visible closer to the lower edge as well as in the upper right corner. Offered in a decoratively carved giltwood frame.
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Along with his contemporary, Giuseppe Recco, Ruoppolo was one of the most important figures in Neapolitan still life painting in the second half of the 17^th century.  Writing in the mid-18^th century, the art historian and biographer Bernardo De Dominici wrote a detailed notizia on his life, describing Ruoppolo as one of the great still life painters in Naples.¹  His paintings were collected by the aristocracy and wealthy citizens of that city, and several of his works were recorded in the collection of Ferdinand van den Einden, the famous Flemish banker and art patron who lived in Naples.² Ruoppolo's style shows an awareness of painters from his own and earlier generations. While his youthful works reflect the more austere naturalism of such Neapolitan painters as Luca Forte, Paolo Porpora and Giovan Battista Recco, his later works are characterized by more opulent and decorative compositions.  This is likely due to the influence of Abraham Brueghel who arrived in Naples in 1675.

This grand still life depicting a profusion of grapes, melons, peaches and other fruit in a mountainous landscape has been dated by Alberto Cottino (see Literature) to the artist’s mature period, circa 1680.  At the time of the 1989 auction (see Provenance), the cut watermelon and part of the grapes and overturned basket had been painted over as a basket of flowers.  The subsequent removal of this overpaint revealed once again the coherence and beauty of Ruoppolo’s original composition.

1.  See B. De Dominici, Vite dei Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani, Naples 1742-45, vol. 3, pp. 293-295.
2.  See R. Middione, in C. Whitfied and J. Martineau, eds., Painting in Naples 1606-1705, from Caravaggio to Giordano, exhibition catalogue, London 1982, pp. 240-241.