Fruit and Vase of Flowers on a Ledge

Pietro Paolini (Italian (Lucchese), 1603–1681)

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions53.6 x 78.1 cm (21 1/8 x 30 3/4 in.)

Credit LineErnest Wadsworth Longfellow Fund

Accession number39.42

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

The minute variations in the dusty skins of the figs and the mottled surfaces of the small apples likely indicate that Fruit and Vase of Flowers on a Ledge was painted from nature. The practice of scrutinizing the unique markings and imperfections of an actual object and attempting to recreate them on canvas was popularized by still life artists working in Italy in the late sixteenth century, most notably by Caravaggio. This later still life is attributed to the Tuscan painter, Pietro Paolini, who studied with one of Caravaggio’s followers. In addition to the botanical accuracy described above, the strong contrast of light and shade, the use and form of the vase, and the monochromatic background are all Caravaggesque. The painter artfully contrasts the more haphazard array of fruits and leaves strewn across the ledge with the relatively static arrangement of the flowers in the vase.

ProvenanceAnonymous collection, Turin. 1938, Matthiesen, Ltd., London; September 14, 1938, sold by Matthiesen to M. Knoedler and Co., New York (stock no. A 2057); 1939, sold by Knoedler to the MFA for $1,400 [see note 1]. (Accession Date: January 12, 1939).

NOTES:
[1] Accessioned as a work by Luis Meléndez.