Watermelon, melon, grapes, apples, pomegranates, peaches, figs and quinces in a landscape

Dublin Core

Title

Watermelon, melon, grapes, apples, pomegranates, peaches, figs and quinces in a landscape

Description

The Artist

Giovan Battista Ruoppolo was born in Naples in 1629 [1]. Giovan Battista’s father, Francesco Ruoppolo, was a majolica painter, and scholars such as Ulisse Prota-Giurleo assume that Giovan Battista might have worked in his father’s majolica workshop where one of Giovan Battista’s elder brothers also worked [2]. As a member of the majolica workshop, Giovan Battista may have painted designs of fish, birds, or fruits [3]. It was under Paolo Porpora’s training where Giovan Battista is assumed to have begun his venture in still life painting. Biographer Bernardo de Dominici claims that Ruoppolo was trained in Naples by Paolo Porpora prior to Porpora’s travels to Rome [4]. De Dominici claims that Giovan Battista quickly surpassed Porpora’s skill and began to specialize in the painting of fruits, particularly grapes [5]. However, there is currently no existing documentation that confirms that Giovan Battista was Porpora’s pupil [6]. Furthermore, uncertainty regarding attribution of Giovan Battista’s work exists because of his shared initials, “GBR,” with Giovan Battista Recco, another Neapolitan still life painter contemporary to Ruoppolo. However, Giovan Battista Ruoppolo’s particular specialization in painting fruits differentiates him from Recco, who appeared to have been more inclined towards marine life paintings. In De Dominici’s account of Giovan Battista’s life, he claims that members of the aristocracy and wealthy class of Naples were keen to collect Giovan Battista’s work [7]. Furthermore, De Dominici credits Giovan Battista with collaborating on four of the fourteen paintings created for the 1684 Corpus Domini exhibition commissioned by Marchese del Caprio, Viceroy of Naples from 1683 to 1687 [8]. Giovan Battista’s inclusion in this significant artististic project suggests the high renown that his still life works were held. Giovan Battista contributed to these large-scale paintings with his depiction of fruits, flowers, grapes, vegetables, and animals that complemented the figures created by history painters [9].

Watermelon, melon, grapes, apples, pomegranates, peaches, figs and quinces in a landscape

Watermelon, melon, grapes, apples, pomegranates, peaches, figs and quinces in a landscape is an oil on canvas painting created by Giovan Battista Ruoppolo [10]. The painting measures 101 by 154 centimeters. The painting includes a highly realistic depiction of fruits and details such as the dust on grapes. The spread includes a freshly sliced watermelon, which scholars such as Gerard Labrot characterize as a signature element of Ruoppolo’s work [11].

Creator

Giovan Battista Ruoppolo

Source

Works Cited

  1. Middione, Roberto. "Ruoppolo, Giovanni Battista." Grove Art Online. 2003. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000074501.

  2. Damian Véronique. “Giovan Battista Ruoppolo.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 106-107. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

  3. Damian Véronique. “Giovan Battista Ruoppolo.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 106-107. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

  4. Dominici, Bernardo De', Fiorella Sricchia Santoro, and Andrea Zezza. Vite De' Pittori, Scultori e Architetti Napoletani. Napoli: Paparo, 2003.

  5. Dominici, Bernardo De', Fiorella Sricchia Santoro, and Andrea Zezza. Vite De' Pittori, Scultori e Architetti Napoletani. Napoli: Paparo, 2003.

  6. Damian Véronique. “Giovan Battista Ruoppolo.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 106-107. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

  7. Middione, Roberto. "Ruoppolo, Giovanni Battista." Grove Art Online. 2003. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000074501.

  8. Damian Véronique. “Giovan Battista Ruoppolo.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 106-107. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

  9. Damian Véronique. “Giovan Battista Ruoppolo.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 106-107. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

  10. “Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo.” Sothebys.com. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/master-paintings-n09875/lot.57.html.

  11. Damian Véronique, and Gerard Labrot. “Neapolitan Still Life: New Demands on the Sense of Sight.” Essay. In L'œil Gourmand: A Journey through Neapolitan Still Life of the 17th Century: Paris, Galerie Canesso, 26 September - 27 October 2007, 28–30. Paris, France: Galerie Canesso, 2007. 

Image
“Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo.” Sothebys.com. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/master-paintings-n09875/lot.57.html.

Publisher

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 13 October 1989, lot 178 (as Circle of Ruoppolo)

Image
“Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo.” Sothebys.com. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/master-paintings-n09875/lot.57.html.

Date

unknown

Contributor

Kayla Marr

Type

painting; oil on canvas

Coverage

Private collection.

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

painting; oil on canvas

Physical Dimensions

101 x 154 cm

Files

Ruoppolo-FruitStillLife.jpeg

Citation

Giovan Battista Ruoppolo , “Watermelon, melon, grapes, apples, pomegranates, peaches, figs and quinces in a landscape,” ARTHIST 256 - Italian Baroque Art - Fall 2021, accessed October 22, 2026, https://www.baroque.dahvc.org/fall-2021/items/show/357.