Red and white roses, tulips, anenomes, blossom and other flowers in a glass vase with peaches on a table

The son of the Bavarian painter, Ignazio Stern, Ludovico was a well- known portraitist and flower still life painter in Rome. His still lifes echo the northern origin of his father with whom he trained, yet the warm vibrant light shows a style embedded in the late Roman Baroque. Stern's position within the artist community was affirmed by his election as a Virtuoso del Pantheon in 1741 and as Regent of this artists' congregation in 1755-56. The patronage of Paolo Borghese over a period of twenty years determined for a large part the artist's activity, including the decoration of the stanza delle Quattro Parti del Mondo in the Palazzo Borghese.

This picture is stylistically comparable to Stern's Still life with flowers in the Galleria dell'Accademia di San Luca, Rome (see F. Zeri, La natura morta in Italia, Rome, 1989, fig. 1009 and G.C. Sestieri, Repertorio dell pittura romana della fine del seicento e del settecento, Turin, 1994, I, pp. 166-167).