Still Life with Cardoon, Francolin, Grapes and Irises
1628. Oil on canvas.Room 008A
Because this work is signed and dated, it reveals the existence of a painter by the name of Felipe Ramírez, although art historians know virtually nothing else about him. This lovely example of his work makes it clear, however, that he continued the tradition of the variety of still life cultivated by Juan Sánchez Cotán (1560-1627), an artist who is considered the most original contributor to the genre in Spain. Sánchez Cotán was responsible for a small group of memorable compositions that have come to be considered most characteristic of Spanish still-life painting: frugal presentations of foodstuffs, carefully arranged in a pantry, which, on occasion, have been interpreted in terms of their possible religious symbolism. Thus, two bunches of grapes, a cardoon, a dead francolin (a type of pheasant) and some irises are displayed here seemingly shrouded in mysterious silence. They are arranged in a fictitious larder and outlined sharply against a dark background. The minuteness of detail with which all the elements have been executed along with the strong contrasts produced by dramatic lighting combine to create a forceful image in which reality and fiction become confused and interwoven. Sánchez Cotán conceived of this type of work around 1600, at an early point in the development of the genre and when the first examples of still lifes were also appearing in Italy and the Low Countries. Ramírez´s perfect submission to Sánchez Cotán´s aesthetics has led some to speculate that this painting might be a copy of a now lost original by Sánchez Cotán. In fact, an X-ray analysis of the painting reveals that Ramírez showed no hesitancy in the execution nor made any corrections, which would, indeed, suggest that he was working from some earlier model -whether a painting or drawing. Sánchez Cotán himself copied some of the elements from his previous still lifes in subsequent works, and it is evident that Ramírez repeats quite closely some of the objects painted by the master from Toledo, such as the cardoon and the francolin, a species of bird much esteemed in the contemporary cuisine. Regarding the other objects in the composition, however, the references to Sánchez Cotán are less clear. William Jordan has illustrated several cases of documentary references to grapes painted by Sánchez Cotán, though no examples have survived to the present. The two bunches of grapes in this canvas are clearly two distinct varieties, whose execution links the painting to the work of El Labrador: an artist recorded between 1632 and 1636 who attained great renown as a painter of grapes (P7904). The delicate irises of the present canvas do not appear in any work that can be attributed to Sánchez Cotán with certainty, and the cup made of gilt silver also appears to have no precedent. Javier Portús suggests that these particular elements distinguish this painting significantly from anything Sánchez Cotán produced. Instead, they share more in common with elements of still lifes from the late 1620s that were painted for a courtly clientele during a time when the more complex style of Juan van der Hamen y León -whose paintings contained more sumptuous elements- became popular. This painting entered the Prado in 1940 when it was acquired with funds from the Bequest of the Count of Cartagena; prior to this it had belonged to the Vera collection until the Spanish Civil War. It is believed that this might be the still life described by Ceán Bermúdez in 1800: In Madrid, I have seen a canvas autographed by Felipe Ramírez in the possession of an aficionado, depicting a cardoon, some dead partridges, an iris in a glass and other objects that appeared to be completely real (Text drawn from Ruiz, L.: Portrait of Spain. Masterpieces from the Prado, Queensland Art Gallery-Art Exhibitions Australia, 2012, p. 154).
