Elena Recco (Active between the late 17th and early 18th century), Still life of fish

Elena Recco (Active between the late 17th and early 18th century) Still life of fish Oil on canvas, 48 x 62 cm; with frame 60 x 74 cm Daughter and student of Giuseppe, Elena Recco successfully tried her hand at still life, retracing her father's themes and especially favoring marine iconography. Precise information about her career is lacking. Bernardo de' Dominici (1683-1759) provides some data in his "Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti napoletani" (III, Naples 1742-44, page 297), in the appendix to the life of Giuseppe Recco. The biographer mentions Elena's transfer to Spain and her presence in Madrid in 1695, following the Countess of Santo Stefano, who moved there after her husband's term as Viceroy of Naples ended. We do not know how long the stay in the Spanish capital lasted, but there she executed some works, as documented in a 1794 inventory of the Buen Retiro Palace, where several canvases of floral subject matter attributed to her are mentioned. The painting analyzed here is an interesting testimony to be compared to the best and most typical production made by Elena Recco, as highlighted in the book Nature morte del Seicento e del Settecento (Edited by Patrizia Consigli Valente, Parma, 1987, pp. 10-11). The arrangement of the fish in the foreground, through an abundant construction, is found in some of her most successful examples. The composition under analysis fully reflects the distinctive characteristics of Recco's production: the support plane contains the displayed catch, immersed in a subdued but diffused light coming from the landscape in the background. The fish in the foreground exhibit the peculiar characteristics of her works: the particular pinkish, greenish, and blue-gray hues of the scales, combined with a sparkling vitality of the freshly caught prey, which shines with silvery reflections, denouncing their vitality, expressed by the brilliance of the eyes, large and open, and by the contortions of their bodies.