Gaspare Lopez, attr. (Napoli, 1650 - Firenze, 1732)
Four Still Lives with Flowers
oil on canvas; inv. P 132, P 133, P 134, P 135
provenance: Bequest of Pier Ignazio Rusconi, 1930
These four paintings feature a rich variety of the same decorative motifs (each painting depicting a different one).
The vases, arranged outdoors on the ground or on stone plinths, can barely contain the exuberance of the flowers, which spill out to form long garlands. Overturned vases, little cascades of water and fountains, precious crockery, leafy branches and glimpses of an intensely blue sky further animate the scene.
Such luxurious vegetation was common in Neapolitan painting of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, especially in the elegant paintings of Gaspare Lopez, a probable pupil of Andrea Belvedere (1652 ca. - 1732). Both painters were influenced by Nordic genre artists working in Naples.
