A Discovered Still-Life by Neapolitan Artist Giuseppe Recco

Heritage Malta presents the painting at Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo

Heritage Malta, through the National Museum of Fine Arts, is presenting one of its recent additions to the permanent display in a purposely set exhibition at Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo. The painting, attributed to the Neapolitan still-life painter Giuseppe Recco by former Curator of Fine Arts Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez, has been registered in the National Collection in 2011 and subsequently restored prior to it being displayed at the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Giuseppe Recco (1635-1695) was a celebrated Neapolitan still-life painter. Intense lighting effects and realistic description of surface textures are hallmark characteristics of this master. Giuseppe represents the second generation of Recco still-life painters, preceded by his father Giacomo and followed by his children Nicol and Elena. Other works by each Recco painter feature in Maltese collections. Works by Giuseppe also feature at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome and the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki.

Given that the painting was unpublished and does not feature in literature on the Recco family of artists, it has been purposely loaned to the prestigious Sicilian gallery for a specific temporary display. Other paintings by Giuseppe Recco from the collection at Palazzo Abatellis will be displayed next to it to validate its attribution.

Palazzo Abatellis is Sicily’s regional museum and gallery of art. The collection includes well-known works with Malta connections including sculptures by Antonello Gagini and Francesco Laurana and works by Antonello de Messina and Mattia Preti.