Tulips, roses, carnations, narcissi and other flowers in a glass vase, on a stone ledge; and Tulips, roses, hyacinths and other flowers in a glass vase, on a stone ledge

The painter and biographer Palomino, who was known as the Spanish Vasari, wrote of Arellano that: ‘none of the Spaniards surpassed him in eminence of this skill’ (A. Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Las vidas de los pintores y estatuarios eminentes Españoles, London, 1742, p. 105). These still lifes are fine examples of the work that established Arellano’s reputation as the pre-eminent painter of flower pieces in the Golden Age of Spanish art, displaying several characteristic features of his style, particularly in the use of the primary colors red, yellow and blue. These dominant hues are harmoniously balanced and offset through the chiaroscuro generated from the white highlights and dark background. These pictures can be compared with a pair of almost identical dimensions, both signed in the same extravagant manner, which are now in a private collection in Barcelona. Alfonso Pérez Sanchez considers that pair to have been executed in circa 1665-70 (op. cit., pp. 209-212, nos. 44 & 45), and it would seem reasonable to date the present pictures to this period of Arellano’s oeuvre. The lively sense of movement, bold colors, and Baroque grandeur of these works illustrate the increasing influence of Mario Nuzzi, called Mario de’ Fiori (1603-1673), and the flower-pieces by the following generation of painters in Madrid, such as Bartolomé Pérez (1634-1693) and Gabriel de la Corte (1648-1694).

Born in Santorcaz, Madrid in 1614, Juan de Arellano entered the studio of Juan de Solis at the age of sixteen where he trained as a figure-painter of modest success. However, by the time he reached his thirties, he had begun to concentrate predominantly on flower-pieces, eventually producing a repertoire of different formats, including vases, baskets and garlands. This genre had been explored by Spanish artists of the previous generation, most notably by Juan van der Hamen y León (1596-1631) and Juan Fernández, called El Labrador (active 1629-1636), who both incorporated flowers into their still life paintings. However, it was not until the mid-seventeenth century, and in part due to Arellano, that flower-pieces became a specialist field in Spanish art and an integral feature of the decoration of homes and church interiors in Madrid.