QUINSA, Giovanni
(b. ~1610 Spain, d. ~1650 Napoli)
Spanish painter. On the basis of a signed and dated still-life that appeared at auction in Milan in 1972, it is assumed that Quinsa was Spanish by birth, although he appears to have spent his career in Naples. The artist’s oeuvre is built around a few documented works, starting with the Young Man with a Melon (destroyed), whose composition shows great restraint, in contrast to the abundance of the Kitchen Interior with Two Figures (Avila, Palacio de los Aguila), where the fruits are arranged on several horizontal and vertical planes, and grouped by shape and subject. The painter’s signature there, clearly visible on a small piece of paper in the foreground, had nonetheless been doubted by some scholars.
