954 - Gaetano Recco (Naples, active in the second half of the 17th century) – The Tears of Saint Peter, circa 1680.

Gaetano Recco (Naples, active in the second half of the 17th century) – The Tears of Saint Peter, circa 1680. Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 75 × 63 cm. We thank Stefano Causa for his assistance in cataloging this work. A magnificent devotional depiction of Saint Peter in Penance, attributed by Professor Stefano Causa to Gaetano Recco, one of the most interesting and little-known masters of the late Neapolitan Baroque. The work, dating from around 1680, exemplifies the intimate religious painting that flourished in Naples during the final decades of the 17th century. The saint is depicted in bust form, his gaze raised to heaven and his hands clasped in penance, in a composition of intense psychological drama achieved through a powerful chiaroscuro reminiscent of Caravaggio. According to Stefano Causa’s study, the painting demonstrates a clear training within the Neapolitan milieu influenced by Jusepe de Ribera, evident in the anatomical vigor, the modeling of the hands, and the expressive treatment of the face, although reinterpreted in a later style that incorporates echoes of Luca Giordano’s mature work. The specialist expressly rejects an attribution to the Venetian school and places the work among the known works of Gaetano Recco, closely linking it to the signed Saint Joseph preserved in the Quadreria del Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples and to other versions of The Tears of Saint Peter found in private collections and previously attributed to Andrea Vaccaro. Gaetano Recco belonged to the celebrated dynasty of Neapolitan painters led by Giuseppe Recco (1635–1695), although, unlike his father and the rest of the family, he focused his work primarily on religious painting. Extant documentation indicates that he was active in Naples in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as well as in Madrid around 1700, where he painted an Immaculate Conception for the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians. Among his documented works ...