Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori (Rome 1603-1673)

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The works presented here from the Lodi collection represent two centuries of Italian still life painting. From Fede Galizia's Still life with peaches in a pierced white faience basket (lot 31) to Giacomo Ceruti's Still life with fish, a lobster, and shellfish (lot 25), they chart the development of the genre in Italy during its most innovative period. The first still lifes in Italy appeared shortly before 1600, but their production increased dramatically around the turn of the seventeenth century and the genre became firmly established within a few years. Several factors contributed to the emergence of still life at this time, among them an increasing interest in the scientific study of the natural world, the influence of Northern artists via collectors such as Cardinal Federico Borromeo, and the appearance of single works such as Caravaggio's revolutionary Basket of Fruit (fig. 1). The confluence of these elements, nourished in the humanistic milieu of Lombardy, produced artists, as Roberto Longhi has described them, who worked 'with an approachable simplicity, a penetrating attention, a certain calm faith in their ability to express the 'reality' around them, without stylistic mediation'. An interest in naturalism is central to the genre of still life, and the paintings in the Lodi collection present two very different manifestations of it; the early, more restrained works of Fede Galizia and the later, more visceral market scenes and butcher stalls of Bartholomeo Passarotti and Giacomo Ceruti. The distinction between art and nature and the degree to which they should be combined was central to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century art theory, and two artists that featured prominently in this discussion were Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. Leonardo's faith in the direct observation of nature, together with his interest in optical studies and light effects, was hugely influential on painters in succeeding generations, while Caravaggio's particular brand of naturalism brought the issue into sharp focus. Indeed, Caravaggio's seemingly deliberate upturning of the hierarchy of genres is revealed in his famous comment that it is as difficult to make a good painting of flowers as it is to make one of figures. This equation of still life and figure painting, together with his intense focus on still-life elements in his religious paintings, went a long way to putting the genre of still life on the art theoretical map. While the first autonomous still lifes did not appear in Europe until the second half of the sixteenth century, the tradition of depicting elements of the natural world in a naturalistic manner was well established. Images of fruit, vegetables, fish and fowl appeared in wall paintings and mosaics uncovered in Pompeii and Herculaneum (fig. 2) and are often discussed in the context of Pliny's story of Zeuxis and Parrhasios and their famous rivalry in the imitation of nature. Naturalistic studies of plants and flowers appeared along the borders of illuminated manuscripts in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and attention to still life elements within larger religious compositions are often seen as important steps towards autonomous still life. The first depictions of inanimate objects separate from figures appeared on the backs or outsides of shutters that protected portable painted diptychs. Hans Memling's majolica vase with flowers in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (fig. 3) is an example of this new kind of independent still life, separated from a depiction of the Virgin but not from obvious religious symbolism. The earliest known example of Italian still life painting is Ambrogio Figino's Plate with Peaches (fig. 4; private collection), painted in Milan sometime between 1591 and 1594. Figino's isolation of the still-life elements from any narrative context and his attention to the colour and texture of the fruit represented a new kind of painting. A madrigal written on the reverse of the panel relates it to the concept of synesthesia, in which one sense acts upon another. In this way, Figino's painting has been seen as embodying a sort of contest between painting and poetry, in which the painter outdoes his literary counterpart by suggesting, in addition to the visual, the tactile, olfactory, and gustatory aspects of the scene. This artistic conceit would explain the emergence of his still life seemingly out of the blue as it is this kind of dialogue that took place in the humanist circles in which Figino moved. Indeed, many of the earliest developments in the genre took place in Milan's humanist circles, which included Giovan Paolo Lomazzo, Figino's teacher, and Simone Peterzano, in whose studio Caravaggio worked. Both painters owned drawings by Leonardo, among them a remarkable study of peapods (fig. 5) that has been given a central role in the emergence of the genre. Other factors that may relate to the emergence of still life at this particular time and place are the ecclesiastical reforms that accompanied the Counter Reformation. Among them was the requirement that art be simple and universally comprehensible. Lomazzo's treatises on painting of 1584 and 1590 reflected this new doctrine and combined it with a call to his fellow artists to pay close attention to the natural world. Fede Galizia's Still life with peaches in a pierced white faience basket (lot 31) belongs to this group of early still lifes produced in Milan. It is a beautiful example of her approach to the subject: the composition is simple, limited to only one kind of fruit seen from a frontal and slightly raised viewpoint. Her use of carefully applied glazes and a range of painting techniques enhances the impression of nature directly observed while her placement of the bowl within the picture plane gives the subject a monumentality that exceeds its thematic scope. One of Galizia's earliest still lifes (now lost; ex-Anholt collection, Amsterdam; see S. Bottari, 'Fede Galizia pittrice' in Collana Artisti Trentini, 1965, p. 361, fig. 6), signed and dated 1602, is the first dated Italian still life known and documents her essential role in the emergence of this new genre. Jacopo Ligozzi's Two red terracotta vases (lot 30) presents the viewer with a similarly frontal and symmetrical composition. Two carefully spaced vases of flowers are pushed right up to the edge of the picture plane. The stems, petals, and leaves of each flower are described in detail and, like a botanical study, each blossom is given its own space within the composition without detracting from the aestheticized arrangement of the whole. The careful observation of the flowers and their unembellished, somewhat stark presentation reflects Ligozzi's years of work as a scientific draughtsman at the court of Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici in Florence from 1577-91. Bartolomeo Passarotti's An old couple selling fish represents a very different, but no less important strain of naturalism in Italian still life painting. In these market and kitchen scenes, figures appear alongside still-life elements and the detached observation that characterizes Galizia's and Ligozzi's works is replaced with an element of narrative, often including, as in An old couple selling fish, an interaction between the figures and the viewer. These kinds of still lifes tend to be painted more broadly than those produced in Milan and, while they cannot be characterized as southern in origin, they were popular in the court culture of Rome and Naples. This less refined, less abstracted, and more visceral approach to still life relates to the market and kitchen scenes of Netherlandish artists such as Joachim Beuckelaer, whose paintings were in the collection of the Farnese family in Parma as early as 1580. The Cremonese artist Vincenzo Campi took up the new genre as did Passarotti, who was documented in Rome in 1551 and had established a studio in Bologna by 1560. Passarotti was known as a prestigious portraitist of popes and Roman cardinals and was also praised as a draughtsman and naturalist. Much of his painting, particularly with respect to genre scenes, is based on the Flemish tradition and he could have had contact with artists such as Marten de Vos, who was active in Rome in the 1550s, or Denys Calvaert, who founded a painting school in Bologna in 1565. While not as obviously based on the close study of nature, still life paintings such as An old couple selling fish relied no less than their Milanese counterparts on the observation of everyday life. In paintings such as the Butcher Shop, of around 1580 (fig. 6; Galleria Nazionale, Palazzo Barberini, Rome), for example, Passarotti combined the observation of contemporary gestures and dress with exaggerated comic types from the lower classes to convey the lasciviousness so prominent in Beuckelaer's market scenes. Conspicuously absent from Campi and Passarotti's works, however, are the religious references common in the Netherlandish examples. In Italy, market and kitchen scenes were more often associated with the cycle of the seasons or the four elements. Giuseppe Recco painted market scenes in Naples in a grandiose, monumental style fitting for the country estates of the Neapolitan aristocracy. Still life painting in Florence was encouraged, particularly in the 1620s and 1630s, at the court of Cosimo II de' Medici, who collected northern paintings and patronized artists such as Astolfo Petrazzi, who produced still lifes on banqueting tables with a figure on one side. The flower piece also flourished in Rome with the work of Mario Nuzzi, known as Mario dei Fiori. He was the first and most famous Roman painter to specialize in flower pieces and, as in the Vase of Flowers presented here (lot 24), he often placed his bouquets against a dark background in order to showcase the beauty of the individual blossoms and the complexity of his compositions. Nuzzi worked for important Roman families such as the Colonna, the Pamphili, and the Borghese, satisfying their taste for court art, and collaborated with narrative painters who added figures to his bouquets and garlands. Nuzzi's earliest dated work, a garland with a scene of the dream of Jacob, is from 1650 and only five paintings can be associated with him through documents. This selection of paintings from the Lodi collection emphasizes the variation and innovation of the genre of still life in Italy. It is a tradition that encompassed a whole range of influences, styles and themes. While the earliest collectors defined the new subject matter in terms of theology or an interest in natural history, still lifes ultimately seem to have been appreciated for their beauty and successful imitation of nature.

Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori (Rome 1603-1673)

Lilies, peonies, narcissi, morning glory and other flowers in a blue and white vase on a stone ledge

Details

Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori (Rome 1603-1673)
Lilies, peonies, narcissi, morning glory and other flowers in a blue and white vase on a stone ledge
oil on canvas
23¾ x 17 5/8 in. (60.3 x 44.8 cm.)

Literature

C. Grimm, Stilleben, Die italiensichen, spanischen und französischen Meister, Stuttgart, 1995, p. 100, fig. 44.
Italian still life painting, The Silvano Lodi collection, exhibition catalogue, Jerusalem, 1994.
Italian still life painting, from the Silvano Lodi collection, exhibition catalogue, Tokyo, 2001, p. 57, no. 19.
S. Dathe, in the exhibition catalogue, Natura morta italiana: Italienische stilleben aus vier Jahrhunderten, Sammlung Silvano Lodi, Ravensburg, 2003, p. 16 and 46.

Exhibited

Jerusalem, Israel Museum, Italian still life painting, The Silvano Lodi collection, June 1994.
Tokyo, Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art; and on tour in Japan, Italian still life painting, from the Silvano Lodi collection, 28 April-26 May 2001, no. 19.
Ravensburg, Schloss Achberg, Natura morta italiana: Italienische stilleben aus vier Jahrhunderten, Sammlung Silvano Lodi, 11 April-12 October 2003.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Mario Nuzzi was the painter par excellence of the baroque bouquet of flowers, achieving such fame that the street where he lived in central Rome still bears his name. Mario's reputation was reflected as well by his legion of imitators and the multitude of paintings incorrectly assigned to him. The recent rediscovery of the inventory of the possessions of Tommaso Salini at his death in 1625 has confirmed the tradition that Mario was the nephew and pupil of this early Caravaggio follower.

To his lasting credit, Mario dei Fiori was able to reconcile Salini's 'direct and hearty naturalism' (Charles Sterling) with the stylistic innovations of baroque painting. His brushwork combines, almost inimitably, a punctilious touch with a rich impasto. His renditions of floral varieties were engraved and studied by natural scientists. The biographer Leone Pascoli writes in 1730 of collectors competing for his flowerpieces 'almost as avidly as for a Raphael'. Even allowing for hyperbole, these canvases have always delighted for their colours as scintillating as fireworks.

The present bouquet by Mario dei Fiori stands out for its masterful orchestration of the artist's favourite repertory of striped tulips, red-and-white anemones, narcissi and morning glories into a red-white-and-blue extravaganza and features a superb blue-and-white majolica vase.

We are grateful to Dr. John Spike for the above catalogue entry.

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