Lombard School, 17th century, Still life with flowers, fruits and asparagus

Lombard school, 17th century

Still life with flowers, fruits and asparagus

Oil on canvas, 79 x 121 cm

The present painting depicts a still life of fruit lying on a large stone improvised as an architectural plan. The abundance of soft fruits and flowers, still fresh and lush, stands out against a backdrop enclosed by a dark drapery that falls in substantial folds. The lumpy surface of the citrus fruits and melon materially bounces off the light: the small group of asparagus on the right side of the painting is combined with numerous seventeenth-century examples of the Lombard school, a tangible sign of the distinctly Lombard influence and inventiveness.

The naturalistic interlude of this region shone with a totally new descriptive autonomy compared to the remaining Italian artistic panorama. Vincenzo Campi (1536-1591) first, then Fede Galizia (1578-1630) and even further back in time Panfilo Nuvolone (1581-1651), Tanzio da Varallo (1575-1633), then Evaristo Baschenis (1617-1677) and Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767) constituted the nodal points of Oltrepo's artistic production, bringing to maturity not only the organization of flowers and fruit, but also of musical instruments, objects of daily life and small animals.

The still life in question, in particular, has affinities with the works of the painters belonging to the family. He flew, whose paintings were long traced back to the only known member of the family at the time, Giuseppe (1662-1700), as well as the youngest. Certainly under his name have come together works by his father Vincenzo (1606-1671) or Vincenzino dei Fiori, and by his aunts Margherita Caffi (1647-1710), Giovanna and Francesca but also by his daughter Domenica or by artists close to him such as Giovanni Saglier (1645-1736) or Giovani Blasio; There is still little biographical information on the latter and only recently have critics begun to take an interest in and study his artistic personality. Giovanni Blasio, active in Lombardy between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, is certainly similar to the compositional and stylistic methods of the so-called Vincenzini, although mediated by Emilian influences.

The present one can be compared precisely with the Still Life of Flowers, Fruit and Curly Salad by Giuseppe Vincenzino in a private Milanese collection or with the Still Life of Fruits and Fishes and Still Life with Fruits, Flowers and Fishes by Givanni Blasio both in private collections, for the treatment of flowers, the dark setting and the arrangement of the elements on overlapping levels through the insertion of vases and risers from which the flourishing vegetation falls.