Nicola Casissa

Nicola Casissa (Naples? - Naples 1731) "Still life with a bird of prey clutching a dead bird" oil on canvas. cm 113x122.5 Expertise Dr. Gianluca Bocchi Nicola Casissa was born in the second half of the 17th century, probably in Naples, the city where he worked actively in the first thirty years of the following century. The historical source par excellence, the Neapolitan biographer Bernardo De Dominici, mentions him among the pupils of Andrea Belvedere, recalling that "he gave much honor to the Master, and his first works closely resemble those of the Abbot, but in the course of time he varied his manner, and created his own style, especially in flowers". The description of Casissa's stylistic features handed down by De Dominici perfectly fits the vision of this and other delicious paintings of Baroque flavor, explaining well why his works were so successful both among connoisseurs and among those who enjoyed admiring them following the decorative taste in line with the fashion of the time: "... and accompanying the flowers with his fountains, thistle herbs, Ducks, and other birds, pleased the Amateurs, therefore he produced many works in the service of various Titles, and adorned many houses of Citizens". Fortunately, the market has returned over time numerous works signed or initialed by Nicola Casissa, allowing studies on the painter to progress and refine their knowledge, giving us at the same time the figure of a more complete and versatile artist than the sole words of the Neapolitan historian suggest, evidently focused on his most successful themes. If Andrea Belvedere in fact left as a legacy to some of his pupils the taste for depicting gardens with large flower vases and gushing fountains where ducks and other birds play, it is also true that some such as Gaspare Lopez and Giuseppe Lavagna never deviated from these schemes, while others such as Gaetano Cusati and Nicola Casissa demonstrate that they cultivated broader interests also ranging in the field of game. These two Neapolitan genre painters were children of their time, raised in the cult of the prevailing Baroque taste, endowed with a strong aptitude for theatricality but also visibly influenced by Nordic models. The Flemish influence on Casissa is also noted in the frequent presences of falcons and other birds of prey in the act of clutching other birds either in flight or standing resting on the ground or on an elegant sculpted stone base as in this case. Compared to the Nordic models imported to Naples by the canvases of David de Coninck and the local followers of Jan Fith, a Rococo artist such as Nicola Casissa shuns the refined Flemish realism and, in our painting, attenuates the cruelty of the scene by illustrating a falcon with an unnatural turquoise-blue plumage. This is a chromatic expedient aimed at pure decoration which well balances a composition set on four focal points located at the corners of the canvas. In our unpublished painting, we will not fail to point out, finally, in the lower left, the branch of boules de neige resting on the water, a clear citation from the famous canvas by Andrea Belvedere of the National Museum and Royal Bosco of Capodimonte. Luminous decorativeism, combinatorial ingenuity, chromatic choices wisely combined on elements of different cultural extraction are the main characteristics of the Baroque art of that eclectic figure who was Nicola Casissa. Gianluca Bocchi