Still Life with Fish and Oysters (1653)

Giovanni Battista Recco is the artist behind "Still Life with Fish and Oysters", dated 1653. Context for 1653: In Japan the Edo period began in 1603, and in China the Qing dynasty took power in 1644, both bringing new patrons and styles. In the Dutch Republic, a prosperous middle-class market supported landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and scenes of daily life painted at a modest scale for the home. It is listed in the Still Life collection. The image is in landscape orientation. Background on Still Life: Later artists, including Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso, used humble still-life subjects to test ideas about space and form. Still life, the arrangement of flowers, fruit, tableware, and other objects, became a distinct genre in the Netherlands and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

"Still Life with Fish and Oysters" is shown in the onlly.art catalogue for reference and browsing. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. Still life works are appreciated for their intimacy and rich surface detail, which makes them especially suited to dining rooms, kitchens, studies, and other quieter parts of the home. Browsing works by the same artist, or from the same period, is a good way to compare styles before choosing what suits your space.

Italian, 1615–1660

If you like the visual language of Giovanni Battista Recco, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.