拍品专文
The personality and importance of Juan de Zubarn as a still life painter, whose style was quite distinct from that of his father, have been underscored in recent years, largely as a result of the seminal exhibitions curated by Dr. William B. Jordan at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, in 1985, and most recently by Dr. Jordan and Dr. Peter Cherry at the National Gallery, London, in 1995.
Francisco de Zubarn's Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Cup of Water, signed and dated 1633 (The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California) is one of the artist's greatest works, and one of the great masterpieces of Spanish seventeenth century art. Ironically, Francisco was not then, nor subsequently in his lifetime, particularly known as a still life painter, but the reputation of the Norton Simon painting was such that in the early decades of this century many other still lives were incorrectly attributed to him, including the Still Life with Chocolate Service in the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kiev. It was only in 1938, during a cleaning of the Kiev painting, that Juan de Zubarn's signature appeared, along with the date of 1640, and Francisco's son regained a long-lost reputation as a still life painter of considerable talent. Juan was probably one of the first Sevillian painters to specialize to any real degree in still life painting, but at the age of 29, after a career that spanned only a decade, he died of the bubonic plague on June 8, 1649, in an epidemic that wiped out nearly half the population of Seville in a matter of months.
Only three signed paintings by Juan are known today -- all still lifes dated between 1639 and 1643 -- but a number of others have been securely attributed to him. These include the Plate of Grapes (signed and dated 1639), in a private collection, Bordeaux; Still Life with Chocolate Service (signed and dated 1640), Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kiev; and Still Life with Basket of Fruit and Cardoon, in the Gsta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, Mntt, Finland (signed and dated 1643; see the catalogue of the exhibition, Spanish Still Life from Velzquez to Goya, National Gallery, London, Feb. 22-May 21, 1995, pp. 106-8, nos. 39 and 41 and fig. 80, respectively); the Still Life of Fruit in a Basket sold at Sotheby's, London, Dec. 6, 1989, lot 38 (650,000=$1,027,000): and the Apples in a wicker Basket with Pomegranates on a silver Plate and Flowers in a glass Vase sold at Christie's, New York, Jan. 31, 1997, lot 218 ($2,862,500).
The present work, which can be dated to the later years of the artist's life, reveals the dramatic changes Zurbarn's art underwent in his brief career. As Dr. Jordan and Dr. Cherry note (op. cit., p. 109), 'the polish and preciosity of the early Plate of Grapes had been abandoned in favor of a robust naturalism, no doubt inspired by the Italian followers of Caravaggio, whose still lifes are documented as entering Spanish collections at about this time'. This resulted in a warmer, more sensuous treatment of surface, seen in the present work in the more summary description of the reflections in the flange of the plate and the richer impasto highlights on the fruit itself. Gone too is the artist's preoccupation with incidental details (see, for example, the rendering of the cracks and chips in edge of the stone ledge in the earlier work).
In this respect the present work shows strong affinities with two other works: the Plate of Quinces, Grapes, Figs and Plums, in a private collection, dated to circa 1645 by Jordan and Cherry (op. cit., p. 109, no. 42) and the Figs on a Pewter Plate on a Ledge (Fig. 1), sold at Christie's, London, May 29, 1992, lot 317 (88,000=$140,200). The latter is of particular note, for not only does it share the same composition and dramatic tenebrism as the present painting, its dimensions - 13.3/8 x 16in. - are also virtually the same. A number of Zurbarn's known works are small still lifes, which might suggest that he produced series of such compositions. That these two works with obvious similarities might have in fact been part of one such series has interesting implications for our understanding of an artist whose oeuvre is marked as much by its paucity as by its excellence.
We are grateful for Dr. William Jordan for confirming the attribution, having seen the painting in the original.
Francisco de Zubarn's Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Cup of Water, signed and dated 1633 (The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California) is one of the artist's greatest works, and one of the great masterpieces of Spanish seventeenth century art. Ironically, Francisco was not then, nor subsequently in his lifetime, particularly known as a still life painter, but the reputation of the Norton Simon painting was such that in the early decades of this century many other still lives were incorrectly attributed to him, including the Still Life with Chocolate Service in the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kiev. It was only in 1938, during a cleaning of the Kiev painting, that Juan de Zubarn's signature appeared, along with the date of 1640, and Francisco's son regained a long-lost reputation as a still life painter of considerable talent. Juan was probably one of the first Sevillian painters to specialize to any real degree in still life painting, but at the age of 29, after a career that spanned only a decade, he died of the bubonic plague on June 8, 1649, in an epidemic that wiped out nearly half the population of Seville in a matter of months.
Only three signed paintings by Juan are known today -- all still lifes dated between 1639 and 1643 -- but a number of others have been securely attributed to him. These include the Plate of Grapes (signed and dated 1639), in a private collection, Bordeaux; Still Life with Chocolate Service (signed and dated 1640), Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kiev; and Still Life with Basket of Fruit and Cardoon, in the Gsta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, Mntt, Finland (signed and dated 1643; see the catalogue of the exhibition, Spanish Still Life from Velzquez to Goya, National Gallery, London, Feb. 22-May 21, 1995, pp. 106-8, nos. 39 and 41 and fig. 80, respectively); the Still Life of Fruit in a Basket sold at Sotheby's, London, Dec. 6, 1989, lot 38 (650,000=$1,027,000): and the Apples in a wicker Basket with Pomegranates on a silver Plate and Flowers in a glass Vase sold at Christie's, New York, Jan. 31, 1997, lot 218 ($2,862,500).
The present work, which can be dated to the later years of the artist's life, reveals the dramatic changes Zurbarn's art underwent in his brief career. As Dr. Jordan and Dr. Cherry note (op. cit., p. 109), 'the polish and preciosity of the early Plate of Grapes had been abandoned in favor of a robust naturalism, no doubt inspired by the Italian followers of Caravaggio, whose still lifes are documented as entering Spanish collections at about this time'. This resulted in a warmer, more sensuous treatment of surface, seen in the present work in the more summary description of the reflections in the flange of the plate and the richer impasto highlights on the fruit itself. Gone too is the artist's preoccupation with incidental details (see, for example, the rendering of the cracks and chips in edge of the stone ledge in the earlier work).
In this respect the present work shows strong affinities with two other works: the Plate of Quinces, Grapes, Figs and Plums, in a private collection, dated to circa 1645 by Jordan and Cherry (op. cit., p. 109, no. 42) and the Figs on a Pewter Plate on a Ledge (Fig. 1), sold at Christie's, London, May 29, 1992, lot 317 (88,000=$140,200). The latter is of particular note, for not only does it share the same composition and dramatic tenebrism as the present painting, its dimensions - 13.3/8 x 16in. - are also virtually the same. A number of Zurbarn's known works are small still lifes, which might suggest that he produced series of such compositions. That these two works with obvious similarities might have in fact been part of one such series has interesting implications for our understanding of an artist whose oeuvre is marked as much by its paucity as by its excellence.
We are grateful for Dr. William Jordan for confirming the attribution, having seen the painting in the original.