.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The artist was named by Professor Luigi Salerno (Still Life Painting in Italy, 1984, pp. 18-21) after a group of still lifes with bowls of fruit, two of which had been published by Dr John T. Spike (in the catalogue of the exhibition, Italian Still Life Paintings from Three Centuries, New York, Tulsa and Dayton, 1983, nos. 3-4). According to Spike, 'The motif of a single raised salver, or tazza, filled with fruit is typically Lombard: all additional observations about the anonymous painter of this pair of still lifes [then in the Lodi collection] must remain hypothetical pending the discovery of signed or otherwise dated documented works by this artist.' The ensuing discussion by scholars has focussed in particular as to whether the 'Master of the Lombard Fruit Bowl' was Italian or Spanish.
The present painting is the most important of the still lifes assigned to the artist by Salerno. Formerly owned by Victor Spark in New York, this impressive Bowl of Fruit with two Artichokes had been previously published as the work of Sánchez Cotán by Ramon Torres Martín (1971). It was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1988, with a tentative attribution to that artist. Another still life clearly by the same hand, repeating the two prominent artichokes and with the same undecorated pedestal, was sold at Christie's, London, 29 May 1992, lot 324.
These still lifes are characterized by their concentration on a selected few elements isolated on stone plinths or tables and illuminated by a raking light, descending from the upper left, that reveals the Master's knowledge not only of Lombard still lifes, but also Caravaggio's. The composition is organized by the finely orchestrated use of strong contrasts of light and shade. The artist's original contribution consists of a certain decorative exuberance in the arrangement of the leaves and of the cherries that tumble over the side of the bowl, dangling by their stems.
The branch of fruit standing in a bowl of different fruits is a motif that occurs in several other pictures that have come to light, including the still lifes sold at Christies, London, 8 July 1994, lot 11 (£40,000) and the Sweetmeats and pastries in a wicker basket with cherries on the branch sold Christie's, London, 25 April 2001, lot 103 (£49,350). The depiction of a Mexican terracotta vase in the latter picture, and of wicker baskets and cabinets in Spanish style in others, have resulted in a broadening consensus to view the Master as a Spanish artist, whose oeuvre contains a formative Caravaggesque phase exemplified by the present picture. These overlapping characteristics are readily explained by the political ties between Spain and Milan at this time.
In the catalogue of the exhibition, Spanish Still Life from Velázquez to Goya, The National Gallery, London, 1995, pp. 124-8 and 197-8, notes 14-31, Dr. William Jordan and Dr. Peter Cherry persuasively argued that the painter was Spanish and probably active around the middle of the seventeenth century somewhere in the region extending from Valencia, in the south, northwards to the region of Zaragoza. In keeping with the traditional attribution to Tomás Hiepes in a private collection, Madrid (ibid., pp. 125-6, fig. 48), they suggested the artist should be referred to as 'The Pseudo-Hiepes'.
To date about forty still lifes have been assigned to this 'still life painter of major importance in the history of Spanish art' (Professor William B. Jordan, private communication of 25 March 1992), as yet unidentified and generally known as 'The Master of the Lombard Fruitbowl'.
We are grateful to Dr. John Spike for the above catalogue entry.
The present painting is the most important of the still lifes assigned to the artist by Salerno. Formerly owned by Victor Spark in New York, this impressive Bowl of Fruit with two Artichokes had been previously published as the work of Sánchez Cotán by Ramon Torres Martín (1971). It was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1988, with a tentative attribution to that artist. Another still life clearly by the same hand, repeating the two prominent artichokes and with the same undecorated pedestal, was sold at Christie's, London, 29 May 1992, lot 324.
These still lifes are characterized by their concentration on a selected few elements isolated on stone plinths or tables and illuminated by a raking light, descending from the upper left, that reveals the Master's knowledge not only of Lombard still lifes, but also Caravaggio's. The composition is organized by the finely orchestrated use of strong contrasts of light and shade. The artist's original contribution consists of a certain decorative exuberance in the arrangement of the leaves and of the cherries that tumble over the side of the bowl, dangling by their stems.
The branch of fruit standing in a bowl of different fruits is a motif that occurs in several other pictures that have come to light, including the still lifes sold at Christies, London, 8 July 1994, lot 11 (£40,000) and the Sweetmeats and pastries in a wicker basket with cherries on the branch sold Christie's, London, 25 April 2001, lot 103 (£49,350). The depiction of a Mexican terracotta vase in the latter picture, and of wicker baskets and cabinets in Spanish style in others, have resulted in a broadening consensus to view the Master as a Spanish artist, whose oeuvre contains a formative Caravaggesque phase exemplified by the present picture. These overlapping characteristics are readily explained by the political ties between Spain and Milan at this time.
In the catalogue of the exhibition, Spanish Still Life from Velázquez to Goya, The National Gallery, London, 1995, pp. 124-8 and 197-8, notes 14-31, Dr. William Jordan and Dr. Peter Cherry persuasively argued that the painter was Spanish and probably active around the middle of the seventeenth century somewhere in the region extending from Valencia, in the south, northwards to the region of Zaragoza. In keeping with the traditional attribution to Tomás Hiepes in a private collection, Madrid (ibid., pp. 125-6, fig. 48), they suggested the artist should be referred to as 'The Pseudo-Hiepes'.
To date about forty still lifes have been assigned to this 'still life painter of major importance in the history of Spanish art' (Professor William B. Jordan, private communication of 25 March 1992), as yet unidentified and generally known as 'The Master of the Lombard Fruitbowl'.
We are grateful to Dr. John Spike for the above catalogue entry.