BALDASSARRE DI CARO (Naples, 1689-1750)

Baldassarre di Caro was one of the greatest exponents of still life painting in Naples in the first half of the eighteenth century. A disciple of Andrea Belvedere and heir to the tradition begun by masters such as Paolo Porpora, he developed his own pictorial language, characterized by a vibrant brushstroke and an extraordinary ability to give elegance and compositional refinement to everyday subjects. His still lifes transcend the merely descriptive to acquire an almost aristocratic presence, typical of the late Neapolitan Baroque.