Baldassarre De Caro (1689 – 1750) Bird of prey captures a pigeon, turtle, frog and snake

Baldassarre De Caro (Naples, 1689 – 1750)

Bird of prey catches a pigeon, turtle, frog and snake

Oil on canvas, 50 x 76 cm 

Signed lower right: “BDCaro”

Critical sheet Prof. Alberto Crispo

Born in 1689 in Naples, Baldassarre De Caro (Naples, 1689 – 1750) was a painter mainly of still lifes, game and floral compositions, a pupil, according to the biographer Bernardo De Dominici (The lives of painters, sculptors and architects napoletani, Naples 1742, III, p. 577), by the artist Andrea Belvedere, "... from whom [Belvedere] first learned to paint flowers, of which he painted many very natural pictures with freshness and mastery".

Over time, De Caro's stylistic orientations underwent various mutations under the influence of the models of Dutch and Flemish painting of the previous century (Otto Marseus van Schrieck, Jan Fyt, Frans Snyders, Abraham Bruegel) and the animalistic tendency of the last Giuseppe Recco, going so far as to favor large groups of game as subjects. Even the pictorial line changed register, aligning itself with the dominant tendencies that inspired the production of Francesco Solimena's circle: dark colours, dense shadows alternating with glimpses of light, heavy chromatic mixtures, twilight atmospheres.

An extremely prolific painter, his style, still linked to the manner of the Spanish "bodegon", was particularly appreciated and requested by the Neapolitan nobility of the 18th century and by the Bourbon court, as evidenced by the numerous works preserved in the Neapolitan museums of Capodimonte and San Martino , the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Museo Correale of Sorrento, the Cavestany collection of Madrid, as well as in various private collections. 

The work in question, an oil on canvas signed "BDCaro" at the bottom right on a stone, reproduces every single detail with extreme realism and skill, from the plumage of the bird of prey and the pigeon, to the shell of the turtle, to the slimy back of the frog . The composition, which develops horizontally, is characterized by a strong dynamism and a dark palette, with a strong predominance of brown, gray and dark green. The artist's hand here decides to immortalize a moment of animalistic struggle: in a wild and wooded background lies the feathered corpse of a pigeon, on which the victorious raptor with wide open wings stands ferociously with its claws. The majesty of this bird has meant that it has been adopted as a symbol since ancient times by the most varied cultures, taking on meanings linked to power and victory, to triumph. Acting as witnesses are two other animals, expertly crafted, a turtle and a frog, the first symbol of tenacity, resilience, strength, but also longevity, the second of fertility and metamorphosis, while on the right, partially covered by a bush, a snake is hidden coiled around itself. 

The canvas was originally designed as a companion piece to another, also signed, depicting two birds of prey, dead birds and a snake, as can be seen from the data sheets for the two paintings published in the catalog of the Zeri Fototeca di Bologna (nos. 87207 and 97206).

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