Still Life with Large Vase and Cascade of Flowers in a Garden,Naples c.1720

Oil on canvas, 36 × 45.2 cm
Giltwood frame of later date, 48 × 57.4 cm
Inscription on reverse: “H. C. Veit – 1A Chesham Mews SW1 – 16 June 1957”

This painting, part of a pair of Neapolitan still lifes from the early eighteenth century, displays several features closely associated with Gaspare Lopez, one of the most sought-after flower painters of his time.

The monumental vase resting on the stone ledge, decorated with a lightly modelled human profile, reflects the Neapolitan Baroque taste for curious and theatrical ornamental details. From this vase descends a true cascade of flowers—a type of composition Lopez often arranged in bold, vertical structures, almost like floral capricci. His contemporaries aptly nicknamed him “Gaspare dei fiori”.

The bouquet is abundant and varied: multiple varieties of roses, chrysanthemums, carnations, tulips, small wild blossoms and Lopez’s characteristic blue climbing bellflowers, painted with a clear and luminous touch. The chromatic range is bright, decorative and joyful, fully in line with the Neapolitan vitality of the period.

The background presents an Italianate garden with cypresses, terraces and stone balustrades. This vocabulary closely echoes works preserved at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 1658, 1662, 1664), all attributed to Lopez. Although larger in scale, those paintings share the same horizontal layout, similar bright skies and the same architectural elements paired with sweeping floral cascades. These parallels provide substantial support for the attribution.

Lopez trained under Andrea Belvedere, the great Neapolitan late-Baroque flower painter. From him he inherited a refined botanical sensibility, luminous colour and a taste for scenographic compositions—qualities he later developed further while active between Naples, Rome and Florence.

Condition: old varnish and craquelure.


Provenance

A handwritten label on the reverse, dated 16 June 1957 and bearing the London address 1A Chesham Mews, SW1, identifies former ownership by Henri C. “Harry” Veit (1925–2012): an American citizen, Princeton-trained engineer, US Navy veteran and grandson of the French Orientalist painter Maurice Bompard. In the 1950s Veit lived and worked in London on international assignments for the U.S. Steel Corporation; the label confirms that the painting belonged to his private collection during those years. The pair later reappeared in New York, still coming from the same family collection.