GASPARE LOPEZ (Naples 1677 - Florence 1732) - Still Life

GASPARE LOPEZ (Naples, 1677 - Florence, 1732)  Still Life Oil painting on canvas Canvas dimensions 177x124cm; with frame 196x144cm COMMUNICATION FROM PROF. NICOLA SPINOSA Born in Naples in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, Gaspare Lopez was a still life painter of the late Baroque period. According to the Neapolitan biographer Bernardo De Dominici, he began his studies with the painter Andrea Belvedere, and then continued them with Jean-Baptiste Dubuisson. Following the experiences gained with the latter, Lopez oriented himself towards an illusionistic painting whose subject is exquisite floral triumphs in the open air. Following the successes achieved in the city of Naples, Lopez moved to Rome and then to Venice. After traveling also in Poland, Prussia and Portugal, he returned to Italy, settling in Florence where he remained until his death, in 1740. It is presumed that he arrived in Florence in 1728, the year in which he enrolled at the Accademia del Disegno. His elegant floral compositions immediately had great success with the Medici who appointed him court painter; in particular he was appreciated by Grand Duke Gian Gastone and his sister, the Palatine Electress Anna Maria Luisa. His rise as a flower painter was helped by the lack of important rivals in the Grand Ducal city after the death of Andrea Scacciati in 1710 and that of Bartolomeo Bimbi in 1729; he was much in demand by the Florentine nobles for whom he created refined compositions in which he had fused the experiences gained in Naples and during his travels with those acquired in Tuscany. Wounded following a brawl during a trip to Venice, Lopez returned to Florence where he died on 15 October 1740. He was buried in the church of San Michele Visdomini.