Figures amongst classical ruins; and Figures by a pool of water surrounded by classical ruins

Despite his early training as an ornamental painter, Gennaro Greco is best known for his vedute ideate, a genre popularized by Andrea Pozzo's contemporary architectural treatise, Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum (1693-1700). Using as a point of departure the real and imaginary views of Naples painted by Viviano Codazzi in the 1640s, Greco developed an airy and more theatrical idiom, which he employed as a stage designer and quadraturista (painter of illusionistic architecture in fresco). In this role he was competing with Francesco Solimena and Paolo de Matteis, rival decorative painters working in Naples at the turn of the century. Greco, also known as 'il Mascacotta' after a severe burn that deformed his face, died from falling off a scaffolding while frescoing a church vault in nearby Nola. The present works, a small-scale pair of fantastic architectural views painted on copper, illustrate Greco's mastery of perspective as well as his scenographic vision, which dominated the artist's compositions regardless of their dimensions or ultimate context.

We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for the confirming the attribution to Greco on the first hand inspection of the paintings.