Still Life with Musical Instruments, Bonaventura Bettera (Bergamo, 1663 – documented until 1718)

Bonaventura Bettera (Bergamo, 1663 – documented until 1718)

Still life with musical instruments

Oil on canvas (90 x 116 cm – Framed 105 x 131 cm.)

The pendenat of this painting can be consulted at the following – link –

The merit of the Bergamo school of painting of the seventeenth century is to have "invented" a type of still life, almost exclusively of musical instruments, which achieved as much success with collectors of the time as it continues to have with critics and the modern market.

Alongside the dominant figure of Evaristo Baschenis, the great initiator of this pictorial trend, there was Bartolomeo Bettera, who had the ability to grasp his legacy but still forge his own identity, with his own pictorial characteristics.

Our beautiful canvas must be precisely placed within the context of this second great painter, and in particular it is attributable to the hand of his son, Bonaventura Bettera (Bergamo, 1663 – documented until 1718), and illustrates, according to a scenography dear to the artist, the usual display of musical instruments placed on a surface covered by an elegant draped carpet and framed by a golden-patterned curtain that descends from above.

This attribution can be supported by a comparison with two signed canvases by Bonaventura, around which the painter's corpus, albeit small, has been reconstructed: the first dated 1718, from Palazzo Passi in Bergamo (now La Spezia, private collection), the second, originally painted for Palazzo Greppi in Milan (now in a private collection in Bergamo) (1).

(1) For both paintings see most recently A. Morandotti, Bonaventura Bettera, in La natura morta in Italia , edited by F. Porzio, 2 vol., Milan 1989, I, p. 278, fig. 324 and p. 275, fig. 325.

It should be considered that many paintings that have passed on the art market have often been attributed to the father, given the great consonance of style, although a more in-depth analysis could indeed place them alongside the production of the younger Bettera: in particular in Bonaventura we can find the transition to an eighteenth-century decorative taste characterised by a marked lightening and cooling of the chromatic tone compared to the paintings of the father, to which is added a strong simplification of the details.

This characteristic can be precisely found in the painting preserved at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (2), where we see the young Bettera who, starting from a phase of strict observance of his father's models, declines them through a brighter register and the adoption of celestial and pastel tones.

(2) Bettera Bonaventura (Moscow, Pushkin Museum, http://www.italian-art.ru/canvas/17-18_century/b/bettera_bonaventura/still_life_with_musical_instrum…)

Returning to the detail of our work, and to its pendant, we thus find all the elements of the Bergamo still life, with the display of objects and musical instruments, such as musical scores, the violin, the lute, the viola, all arranged on a table placed in an asymmetrical position with respect to the proportions of the canvas and accompanied by a worked carpet; in addition, other objects can be identified, such as the globe, a chest, a book, and also various animals, all typical details of the Bettera workshop.

There are no human figures, but musical instruments left there, inanimate objects, apparently arranged randomly, as if abandoned, some overturned, on top of others; there is even a layer of dust, next to the musical manuscripts.

For comparison purposes, we illustrate below a series of works that could be similar to ours, in terms of scenic import and compositional style.

In particular:
– Bettera Bartolomeo – Bettera Bonaventura attr. (https://patrimonioculturale.regione.fvg.it/opera/?s_id=499871)
– Bettera Bonaventura – Still life with musical instruments and globe (Private Collection. https://www.didatticarte.it/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image-102.jpeg)
– Bettera Bartolomeo, Still Life with Musical Instruments and Apple (Private Collection, Bergamo, https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/fotografia/151011/)
– Bettera Bartolomeo, Still Life with Musical Instruments (Antique Market, London, https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/86907/)
– Bettera Bartolomeo (Christie's, 27.1.2010, New York, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5287628/?intObjectID=5287628)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with a pleasant golden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of guarantee and authenticity.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional, tracked and insured carriers.

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