Lombard School, 17th Century, Still Life With Flowers, Fruits And Asparagus

ombard School, 17th century

Still life with flowers, fruits and asparagus

Oil on canvas, cm 79 x 121

The present painting depicts a still life of fruits lying on a large stone improvised to architectural plan. The abundance of soft fruits and flowers, still fresh and luxuriant, stands out on a background enclosed by a dark draping that falls in consistent folds. The lumpy surface of the citrus fruits and melon materially bounce off the light: the cluster of asparagus on the right side of the painting juxtaposes numerous examples from the 17th century of the Lombard school, a tangible sign of the influence and inventive brand distinctly Lombardy.

The naturalistic parenthesis of this region is full of a descriptive autonomy totally unprecedented compared to the rest of the Italian artistic panorama. Vincenzo Campi (1536-1591) first, then Fede Galizia (1578-1630) and still back in time Panfilo Nuvolone (1581-1651), Tanzio da Varallo (1575-1633), then Evaristo Baschenis (1617-1677) and Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767) They were the focal points of artistic production beyond the Po Valley, bringing to maturity not only the organization of flowers and fruits, but also musical instruments, everyday objects and small animals.

The still life in question, in particular, has similarities with the works of painters belonging to the family. Volò, whose paintings for a long time were attributed to the only known member of the family at that time, Giuseppe (1662-1700), and the youngest. Certainly under his name have come together works instead of the father Vincenzo (1606-1671) or Vincenzino dei fiori, and aunts Margherita Caffi (1647-1710), Giovanna and Francesca but also the daughter Domenica or artists close to him like Giovanni Saglier (1645-1736) 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 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is certainly similar to the compositive and stylistic modes of the so-called Vincenzini, although mediated by influences from Emilia. 

The present can be compared with the Still life of flowers, fruits and rich salad by Giuseppe Vincenzino in private collection Milanese or with Still life of fruits and fish and Still life with fruits, flowers and fish by Givanni Blasio both in private collections, for the treatment of flowers, the dark setting and the arrangement of the elements for superimposed floors by inserting pots and backboards from which the flowering vegetation falls.