Giovan Battista Ruoppolo
Encyclopedia
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
painter from the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
era, notable for painting still-lifes. He was a disciple of Paolo Porpora
Paolo Porpora
Paolo Porpora was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque, who was active mainly in Naples and specialized in floral still lifes. He is documented as a pupil of Giacomo Recco, the father of Giuseppe Recco, and said to have worked under Aniello Falcone. He joined the Roman Accademia di San Luca from...
(1617–1673), a contemporary of Salvatore Rosa. Additional Porpora pupils who formed a school of still-life painters in Naples were Giovan Battista and Giuseppe Recco
Giuseppe Recco
Giuseppe Recco was a still life Italian painter.Born in Naples, he likely apprenticed with his family, including his father Giacomo Recco and uncle Giovan Battista Recco. His children both son Nicolo and daughter Elena were also painters...
, and Ruoppolo's brother of Giuseppe Ruoppolo. The initials of Ruoppolo match those of the younger Recco, suggesting some canvas attributions are likely in error. The dark backgrounds to his still life call to memory Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
's bowl of fruit and flowers. Another contemporary painter, though trained in Rome, of still-lifes in Italy was Giovanna Garzoni.