Lot 24: *GIOVANNI-BATTISTA RUOPPOLO (1629-1693)

signed lower left G. Ruoppoli oil on canvas, unframed In his Vite dei Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani, the art historian Bernardo De Dominici describes Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo as one of the great still life painters in Naples. His pictures were collected by the growing wealthy merchant class and the aristocracy. Ferdinand van den Einden, the Flemish banker, had an inventory of his collection drawn up in 1688 in which there are two paintings by Ruoppolo listed: Game, a Kid and a Goose and Kitchen Ware and a Pile of Loaves. Van den Eiden is also recorded as having paid 60 ducats to Ruoppolo for works completed (see C. Whitfield, Painting in Naples 1606-1705 From Caravaggio to Giordano, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1982). While he was a master in his own right, Ruoppolo looked to artists of his own and earlier generations for guidance and inspiration. His early works reflect the influence of Neapolitans such as Luca Forte and Giovan Battista Recco, as well as Ruoppolo's knowledge of the Roman still life tradition which harks back to Caravaggio. His later works became more decorative, possibly due to the influence of Abraham Brueghel who visited Naples in 1675.

Sale: Sotheby's, Monaco, June 21, 1991, lot 114, as one of a pair, there purchased by the present collector for FF 1,554,000 ($255,109) for the pair