(Naples? - 1704)
A hunter with game and a hound; and
A putto with a setter chasing ducks, fruits on a rock and a vase of flowers in a rocky landscape,
the first signed lower right: Nic. MassaRo..,
oil on canvas, 127.9 x 178.5 cm and 128.5 x 181 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
Private European Collection

We are grateful to Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

Nicola Massaro is recorded by Bernardo de’ Dominici in Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani. Few works by Massaro have been identified and he is generally considered to have been a landscape painter The present pair of hunting scenes are therefore an important addition to his oeuvre. The compostions display stylistic similarities to the work of Andrea Belvedere (see: for example his signed Ducks and flowers Galleria Palatina, Florence, illustrated in R. Middione in La natura morta in Italia, F. Zeri and F. Porzio eds., Milan, 1989, II, p. 938, fig. 1139). It can also be compared to the compositions of hunting themes by Baldassarre de Caro (see the two large still-life paintings of game at Matera, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Lanfranchi, illustrated in L. Galante in La natura morta in Italia, cit., II, p. 976, figs. 1192–1193).