Fish and oysters on a wooden table, a landscape beyond

Giuseppe Recco was the most celebrated Neapolitan still-life painter of his generation. He was born into a distinguished dynasty of still-life painters that spanned the whole of the 17th century. He is generally thought to be the son of Giacomo and the nephew of Giovan Battista Recco, although Federico Zeri has argued that his father was more likely to be Guglielmo Recco, about whom very little is known (see F. Zeri, La Natura Morta in Italia, Milan, 1989, II, p. 903). If the family relationships are difficult to establish with certainty, there is no doubt about their artistic affinities. The Reccos were celebrated for their naturalistic arrangements of fruit, flowers, and fish, with Giuseppe considered as the most successful of this group.

While his repertoire was diverse, Giuseppe is perhaps most celebrated for the originality of his fish still-lifes. He has signed the present picture prominently as 'Eques' (Knight), a prefix that does not appear earlier than in a still-life of 1680 (Pesaro, Pinacoteca Comunale), suggesting that he received the title around this time.