A parrot tulip, an African marigold, morning glory, hyacinths and other flowers in a sculpted urn, on a ledge

Unrecorded until sold in these Rooms in 1995, this picture is the only known painting on glass by Pérez. Juan de Arellano, Pérez’s father-in-law, is known to have executed works of this type based on paintings of flowers on mirrors by Mario Nuzzi and Giovanni Stanchi, the most famous of which are those in the Galleria Colonna, Rome, which include figures by Carlo Maratta (La natura morta in Italia, ed. F. Porzio, Milan, 1989, II, pp. 764 and 772, figs. 893, 904 and 905). Although no such works by Arellano are known today, Antonio Ponz, in his epic account of his artistic journey through Spain, cites similar paintings by Arellano, now destroyed, in the Madrid church of San Jéronimo el Real (A. Ponz, Viaje de España, Madrid, 1772-94; ed. 1947, p. 416). Dr. William B. Jordan and Peter Cherry, in their catalogue to accompany the 1995 exhibition at the National Gallery, record Antonio Palomino’s reference to 45 small, unattributed flowerpieces on mirror, with gilt frames, in the 1685 inventory of the collection of the Conde de Oñate (W.B. Jordan and P. Cherry, Spanish Still Life from Velázquez to Goya, National Gallery, London, 22 February-21 May 1995, p. 198, note 10).