Lot 176: PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION GIUSEPPE RUOPPOLO NAPLES (?) DATE UNKNOWN - 1710 NAPLES A STILL

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION GIUSEPPE RUOPPOLO NAPLES (?) DATE UNKNOWN - 1710 NAPLES A STILL LIFE OF GRAPES, PLUMS, WATERMELONS, PEACHES, LEMONS, A CARDOON, AN OPEN POMEGRANATE, TOGETHER WITH A SHELL, A SNAIL AND OTHER OBJECTS

partially signed or inscribed lower left:...

PE

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 30 January 1997, lot 88A, where acquired by the present owner.
CATALOGUE NOTE

The handling of this still life is extremely close to that of a painting in a private collection, Udine, which is signed "GRU" (for which see R. Middione, in F. Zeri ed., La natura morta in Italia, Milan 1989, vol. II, reproduced in colour p. 927, fig. 1121). Not only do these still lifes share specific elements, such as the conch shell, but their compositions are also made up in a similar manner, with numerous fruits arranged in a highly contrived fashion. Middione (op. cit., p. 926), and Marini before him, had suggested that paintings signed by the so-called "Monogrammist GRU" may actually be by Giuseppe Ruoppolo, and the existence of the present partially signed work would appear to confirm this hypothesis.

When the painting appeared at auction in 1997 the attribution to Giuseppe Ruoppolo was endorsed, on the basis of a transparency, by both Dr. John Spike and the late Prof. Federico Zeri.

86.5 by 116.2 cm.; 34 by 45 3/4 in.