Workshop Of Jan Pauwel Gillemans I (antwerp, 1618 - 1675), Still Life With Flowers And Fruit

Workshop of Jan Pauwel Gillemans I (Antwerp, 1618 - 1675)

Still life with flowers and fruit

Oil on canvas, cm 81,5 x 53

With frame, cm 93 x 65

From a renowned family of goldsmiths, the Flemish artist Jan Pauwel Gillemans I, also known as The Old Man (Antwerp, 1618 - 1675) was trained at an early age in the workshop of his painter relative in Liège. After an intense apprenticeship in the main Belgian cities, he became a master in Antwerp in 1648 - the year he married - he practiced both the art of goldsmithing and that of painting, specializing especially in the genre of still life. His paintings of flowers and fruits, usually small/medium format, were inspired by those of Jan Davidsz de Heem, one of the most important naturamorists of the seventeenth century.

The canvas under examination, which can be traced to the stylistic and formal characteristics of Jan Pauwel Gillemans' workshop Il Vecchio, in fact presents the same attributes that distinguished the master’s works, such as overwhelming cascading compositions, often overloaded with elements in precarious balance; an extremely high and realistic level of detail, where every texture, every leaf, every drop of water, every grain is rendered with almost photographic precision; a soft, harmonious modeled, in which the contrast between the background, generally dark, and a varied palette, bright, calibrated on colors almost at the limit of saturation. In the case shown here, the artist is engaged in a rich and complex composition that develops vertically: at the center of the work there is a large ornate metal vase, overflowing with a profusion of flowers and fruits. The flowers, with bright colors and different types, create a fascinating contrast with the ripe fruit, which lies on a lower floor. A delicate white porcelain cup painted on its plate completes the work, adding a touch of elegance.