Baldassarre De Caro (

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, 1689- 1750) was an Italian painter of

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s, mainly of hunted game, but also of flowers. The mood of his paintings is often morbid. According to his biographer

Bernardo de' Dominici Bernardo de' Dominici or Bernardo De Dominici (13 December 1683 – c. 1759) was an Italian art historian and painter of the late- Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. As a painter he was known for his landscapes, marine vedute and genre scen ...

, he was a pupil of

Andrea Belvedere Abate Andrea Belvedere (born 1646) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Life and Work It is believed that the painter was born not in 1646, as De Dominici reported, but around 1652, based on the discovery, by Prota Giurleo, of the ac ...

, where he trained alongside

Tommaso Realfonso Tommaso Realfonso (c. 1677 in Naples – after 1743) was an Italian painter of the 18th century, specializing studies of still-life paintings of flower and fruit pieces. He also painted vedute or landscapes. He was also called ‘’Masillo ...

, Gaspare Lopez, Gaetano d'Alteriis, and Nicola Casissa. There had been an active school of still life painting in Naples, starting with

Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...

via Ruoppolo to Belvedere. De Caro was also influenced by Spanish '' Bodegones'' and

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

painters, including

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...

, David de Coninck,

Jan Fyt Jan Fijt or Johannes Fijt (or Fyt) (19 August 1609 – 11 September 1661) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and etcher. One of the leading animaliers of the 17th century, he was known for his refined depictions of animals and his lush h ...

and the Neapolitan resident

Abraham Brueghel Abraham Brueghel (baptised 28 November 1631 – c. 1690) was a Flemish painter from the famous Brueghel family of artists. He emigrated at a young age to Italy where he played an important role in the development of the style of decorative Baroq ...

. For some years, De Caro found patronage and favor with the

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...

court of Naples. This success would not last as his style finally became too old fashioned and indebted to the Spanish "Bodegón" and he was repeating his works in too many copies. His sons Giuseppe and Lorenzo (not to be confused with the more successful

Lorenzo De Caro Lorenzo de Caro (baptised 29 May 1719 – 2 December 1777) was an Italian painter, active in the late Baroque style in his native city of Naples. Biography Decaro's biographical information is sparse, and many canvases refer to painter of Neapol ...

) De Caro were also still life painters. Giuseppe claimed to have trained with the renowned

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...

Sources

Italian Treccani Encyclopedia entry, by Roberto Middione, Volume 33 (1987).
Maria Carmela Masi, La ricostruzione della quadreria del Real Casino di Carditello. Il trionfo della natura morta nel Settecento in Carditello Ritrovato: Siti Reali e territorio n. 2 e 3: storia restauro valorizzazione, Roma, Artemide, 2014 1689 births 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Italian still life painters Italian Baroque painters Painters from Naples 1750 deaths 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub