Still life with fruit, Michele Pace known as Michelangelo del Campidoglio (Rome, 1625 – 1669) Circle of

Michele Pace, known as Michelangelo del Campidoglio (Rome, 1625 – 1669), Circle of
Still life with fruit
Roman school of the second half of the 17th century
oil on canvas (72 x 96 cm. – In frame 87 x 112 cm.)

FULL DETAILS OF THE PAINTING (CLICK HERE)

This splendid composition, emblematic of the Roman Baroque still life of the mid-17th century, highlights a rich variety of autumn fruits, picked at their peak ripeness.

On the right, a split watermelon stands out, revealing its red flesh and numerous dark seeds, next to some pomegranates, revealing their shiny red seeds. Next to them is a dense, compact bunch of white grapes and, just below, small black grapes. On the left, ripe figs with velvety skins, garlic, and other small berries are visible, followed by a distinctive ribbed pumpkin decorated with dark streaks.

The scene is completed by vine branches, surmounted by a bamboo cane that crosses the composition diagonally, inserted to give perspective depth to the composition, both as a reference to the rural dimension and to open-air gathering.

The work is characterized by a marked lighting direction of Caravaggio's influence, with the completely dark background allowing the raking light to bring out the volumes, the different surfaces of the peels and the vibrant colors of the fruit, giving the whole a strong sense of realism and plasticity.

In particular, the characteristics of the work, which for style and composition can be attributed without hesitation to the Roman school, lead us to evaluate as the first reference the name of Michele Pace (Rome, 1625 – 1669), a Roman painter known as Michelangelo del Campidoglio, especially for the scenic construction, the exuberant pictorial layers and the way of rendering the texture of the various types of fruit.

The absence of signed works from the Campidoglio makes it difficult to place his paintings in chronological order: born in Rome, he spent most of his working career there, except for a few brief stays in Naples, where he came into contact with the works of Abraham Brueghel (1631-1690), from whom he drew evident pictorial motifs.

The influence of other masters of the still life genre active in Rome during the same period is evident, however, and explains the attributional difficulties scholars often face. In our case, the painting also clearly reveals stylistic similarities with some works by two other specialists, the better-known Bartolomeo Castelli the Younger (Rome 1696-1738) and Michelangelo Cerquozzi (Rome 1602-1660).

In seventeenth-century Rome, the attribution of still lifes clashed with a dense network of collaborations, workshop exchanges and stylistic similarities between the names just mentioned.

In our specific case, the distinctive feature of this work – and of the stylistic signature of the Campidoglio – is the presentation of the fruit displayed at the moment of its maximum and turgid ripeness, for example the half watermelon on the right and the pomegranates in the centre which are split open from the inside.

This choice not only has an aesthetic value (allowing the painter to show the juicy pulp and the detailed texture of the black seeds and kernels), but also contains a strong allegorical meaning linked to the concept of Vanitas: the ephemeral beauty of nature captured an instant before its inevitable decline.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work comes with a beautiful gilded wooden frame and a certificate of authenticity and guarantee.

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