Paolo Porpora
(1617 - 1673) |
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Still Life, Flowers, Landscape Art Work
| Name: |
Paolo Porpora |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Naples, Italy |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1617 |
| Death: |
1673 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Still Life, Flowers, Landscape |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
late-Baroque |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| A precocious and talented painter of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, occasional birds and animals, Porpora is one of the high points in the history of Italian still-life painting. He developed the flower still life into a sumptuous version that anticipates the arrangements of Jan van Huysum by nearly fifty years. Still too little appreciated, Porpora also remains poorly understood; parts of his career are obscured by lack of documents and other evidence. Early biographers mention that Porpora studied in Naples with Aniello Falcone* before turning to still-life painting, an assertion that modern scholars tend to doubt. Documents place Porpora at age fifteen (1632) in the workshop of Giacomo Recco, and thereby establish his training with the leading Neapolitan specialist in flower painting. Porpora's association with Falcone is now regarded as a collaboration, with Porpora supplying still lifes for some of Falcone's paintings. From surviving documents we know that Porpora was active in Rome for much of his career. He must have been in the city by February 1654, the year of his marriage there. The following year he attended a session of the Accademia di San Luca and is listed among its new members, though his formal acceptance is dated 1656. Between 1656 and 1668 he was active in the Accademia, with records accounting for his presence each year except for 1661 and 1668. In 1666 Porpora was granted admittance to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, and that society said masses for his soul upon his death in 1673. It unclear why Porpora, dearly a talented painter, had so little impact on Roman painting. Another painter, Mario Nuzzi "dei Fiori," is generally described in contemporary sources as Rome's leading still-life painter. From the evidence supplied by his paintings, Porpora reveals himself a multifaceted painter capable of monumental compositions such as Flowers with a Crystal Bowl and Open Melon (Naples, Museo e Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte), as well as charming and intimate portrayals of the forest floor as in Forest Turf with Morels, Snakes, Frogs, Lizard and Insects (Naples, Museo e Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte). These brooding forest scenes show Porpora's affinity with the work of Otto Marseus van Schrieck* (who arrived in Rome in 1652), whom he most likely knew. The art historian John Spike has added much to our knowledge about Porpora. |
Samples of Work
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