Roman School, 17th Century Still Life With A Basket Of Flowers Oil On Canvas

Roman School, 17th century
Still life with a basket of flowers
Oil on canvas, 41 x 57 cm
Ancient contemporary frame, 60 x 71 cm

Elegant still life created in the 17th century, depicting a woven basket full of flowers, expertly arranged with a balance between full and empty spaces, between light and shadow, which enhances its theatrical and contemplative character. The work, despite its apparent simplicity, shows an extraordinary mastery in the treatment of surfaces and in the material rendering of the petals, some of which appear already captured at the moment of transience. The composition is built on a strong chiaroscuro contrast, typical of the Roman Caravaggio tradition, with a dark background from which the flowers emerge with vibrant realism.
The work fits fully into the repertoire of the Roman School of still life of the 17th century and presents strong stylistic and compositional analogies with the hand of Mario Nuzzi known as "Mario dei Fiori", one of the main interpreters of the genre in Rome in the mid-17th century. The weaving of the basket, the vaporous rendering of the petals, the semicircular arrangement of the flowers and the use of the dark background recall well-known examples of the artist, such as the works in museums and in numerous private Roman collections, where similar pictorial traits are found in the construction of the volume and in the floral choice, with a predilection for tulips and carnations.
The floral still life in seventeenth-century Rome is never a simple decorative exercise: the flower, ephemeral and shining, contains a moral and spiritual subtext, linked to Vanitas and meditation on the transitory nature of existence. However, in the case of Mario dei Fiori, the tone always remains harmonious and solemn, with a gaze that exalts the sensitive beauty of creation.