A forest floor with a porcupine, rabbit, ducks, tortoises and a snake

Paolo Porpora entered Giacomo Recco's workshop in Naples at the age of fifteen. After the death of his teacher, he left Naples for Rome, where he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca, which he attended between 1655 and 1670. It was in Rome that Porpora met Northern painters such as Otto Marseus van Schrieck and Matthias Withoos, who undoubtedly influenced his Roman output, which tended more towards forest floor scenes.

There are few sources describing Porpora's life, but the biographer Bernardo de' Dominici relays an interesting anecdote when he describes the painter's favorite objects as 'fish, oysters, snails, whelks and other shellfish' ('pesci, ostriche, lumache, buccine ed altre conche marine'; see B. de Dominici, Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, Naples, 1743, pp. 75-80).