Still Life with Fish by Gaetano Cusati

Fish
Here, sea creatures overflow their baskets and lie draped across the seashore.

The artist, Gaetano Cusati, worked in Naples, located on the southwest coast of Italy, near Mount Vesuvius. Still-life paintings (arrangements of objects) such as this, particularly of fish, had a long tradition in the area since much of Naples’ money came from maritime (sea-based) commerce.

Octopus
The abundance of seafood, including octopuses, might seem exotic to us now, but fish and seafood were staples of the Neapolitan diet at the time.

Tactile feast
The wet gleam of fish scales, slimy drape of octopus flesh, and hard, pearlescent curve of a conch shell, all packed on the sand and rocks of a Neapolitan beach, give the painting an intense tactile quality.

It is as if we could reach right in and pluck a fish from the marketplace.

Net
The fishermen’s net, which a breeze has blown outward, gives movement to the otherwise still scene.

Cusati’s vividly colored brushstrokes are loose and expressive. You can almost smell the salty breeze and pungent marketplace offerings.

Signature
Cusati signed this painting in the lower left corner, making this artwork a rarity: few still lifes by the artist are known, but he was very much part of the Neapolitan still life tradition.

Baroque style
The bold colors, large and complex composition (the arrangement of the objects), and tactile quality of the painting are characteristics of the Baroque style, which was the leading style at the time.