Still Life, Oil on Painting by Giovan Battista Ruoppolo, Naples, 17th Century

Area of ??Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo (Naples, 1629 - 1697) Still life with fruit and little bird Measures: Oil on canvas, 62 x 83 cm The still life in question shows juicy citrus fruits, among which we can recognize oranges and cedars, together with red berries scattered on the ground. A cheerful little bird rests on the edge of a terracotta pot in which some pink-mottled carnations grow. The landscape that can be observed all around is veiled by clouds and shaded by shrubs, while in the distance there is a green hill. Dominating the foreground and standing out from the dark background is the fruit which, lush and juicy, stands out in the vivacity of the colors in contrast with the dark background. The full-bodied brushstroke that delineates the wrinkled peel of citrus fruits to restore the realism of the fruit, just as the green leaves of the stems softly folded on themselves are sketched with extreme truthfulness, they ascribe the work to a painter working in the circle of Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo. Ruoppolo is a Neapolitan artist, specialized in the genre of still life, indeed De Dominici himself in his Lives of Neapolitan painters, sculptors and architects recognizes him a primary role in the Neapolitan school of the genre. He studied, together with Giuseppe Recco (1634 -?), In the workshop of Paolo Porpora (1617 - 1673). He painted almost exclusively fruit and flower paintings...

Still life oil painting on canvas depicting pumpkins, rabbits and chickens. Tuscany XVII century. The painting needs very small restoration. It has been relined.

Our still life depicting a metal brazier on ledge is a rare painting by Baudouin Yvart (French, 1611-1690).  Stretcher measures 15 1/4 by 19 inches.  It has an extraordinary ebonized sgraffito frame, 24 by 28 by 1 3/4 inches, with inlaid mother of pearl and pewter mounts.  Professionally relined and mounted on keyed stretcher. Provenance: Private Collection, Paris, by 1974; Anonymous sale; Boisgirard et Associés, Paris, June 26, 1985, lot 26; Jocelyn Fielding Fine Art Ltd., London; Mr. and Mrs. John H. Gutfreund, CEO Salomon Brothers, New York. Literature: Michel Faré, Le grand siecle de la nature morte...

Attr. Jacobus or Iacomo Victors (Amsterdam c. 1640 - 1705) Still life with birds Oil on canvas, 112 x 133 cm The still life examined here is a rare example of the simultaneous presence of live and dead animals in a single composition. On two rocky levels different ornithological species are neatly arranged, reproduced with the utmost fidelity and adherence to life. Mallards, doves, sparrows and a partridge placed on their backs can be recognized. The soft mantles with different chromatic tones, with the characteristic streaks and spots of color, together with the precise investigation of the various ornithological typologies, denote an observation of the real datum typical of the seventeenth-century Flemish tradition. Another mallard, this time alive, seems to have just settled on the rock, as if to observe the rich composition moving its neck. Its characteristic colors, the bright green of the head and the upper part of the neck, the yellow of the beak and the orange of the legs characterize the painting and capture the viewer's attention. The flight of the dove in the foreground is splendid, seen from above, the virtuosic pose and the brightness of its feathers, in an elegant modulation of grays tending to white, denote the stylistic quality of this work. It was probably created by a Flemish artist working in Italy in the second half of the seventeenth century: close analogies can be found with the game of Jacobus Victor...

Carlo Lanfranchi (Mirafiori, 1632 - ivi, 1721), attr. Still life with pumpkin, grapes, peach and fig Measures: Oil on canvas, 54 x 56 cm - with frame 73.5 x 76 cm A plastic lig...

Paolo Paoletti (Padua, 1671 - Udine, 1735) Still Life with Fruits on a Shelf Oil on canvas, 53.5 x 81 cm Expert opinion Dr. Gianluca Bocchi The still life in question is referable to the hand of Paolo Paoletti (1671 - 1735). Born in Padua, but settled in Udine when he was not yet twenty, the artist was hosted here for many years at the Caiselli counts, in whose palace an entire room was decorated with his works. Between 1708 and 1715 he appears in the Fraglia dei pittori di Venezia, for which he paid the registration in 1712. The stay in Venice was of a certain importance for his artistic maturation, since he was able to frequent the stimulating international circles of the Lagoon. His allegories of the seasons and still lifes were mostly intended for the wall decorations of Friulian stately homes among which the Attimis, the Concina, the Giacomelli, the Morelli de Rossi, the del Torso and the Valentinis are mentioned. These compositions mainly depicting edible kinds such as vegetables, fruit, meats and cheeses were often enriched with flowers and sometimes framed by architectural backdrops or landscape backgrounds. The marked descriptive taste that characterizes them is similar to that of the samples of Bartolomeo Bimbi...