This work is an important addition to the Museo del Prado’s collection, as it is signed by an artist from the area of Toledo who made very few paintings. Indeed, the museum has only one other signed still life by him -The Chicken Seller (P08063)- and three more that are attributed to him: Saint John the Baptist (P01308), The Penitent Mary Magdalene (P01309) and The Miracle of Saint Bernard (P03489).

Alejandro de Loarte must have begun his short life in Madrid around 1595, learning his trade from his father, painter Jerónimo de Loarte, about whom we know nothing except that he was established at court. Alejandro must have settled in Toledo following his marriage in 1619. Between 1622 and his death in 1626, he made religious works for parish altars, devotional works for private clients and numerous canvases with landscapes, flowers, some portraits, and most of all, still lifes. His success is indicated by the fact that he had a workshop with helpers and apprentices.

This work has abundant bibliography, beginning with its first published mention by Méndez Casal in 1934. It was part of an exhibition dedicated to the Spanish Still Life organized by the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao. On that occasion, José Milicua drew attention to the interesting manner in which Loarte evoked Sánchez Cotán’s formal, chromatic and compositional approach here. With his own personality and considerable success, the painter created a very measured painting that also recalls works by that moment’s leading still life painter from the School of Madrid: Juan Van der Hamen.