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When describing the work of this prolific painter of still lifes, it is frequently said that Luis Meléndez included only commonplace objects in his canvases; this painting, in fact, offers the exception that proves the rule. Amid the various objects represented here are a porcelain cup and large saucer, or plate, which seem to be East Asian rather than Spanish. Indeed, they may be Cantonese
Sobre una tosca mesa de madera, descrita táctilmente con los pequeños detalles de la calidad del material, visibles en nudos y muescas, aparecen desordenadamente situadas unas cuantas “peritas de San Juan” y un pan en segundo término, junto al cual se eleva una alcarraza de loza muy blanca que bien pudiera ser andaluza. Se denomina popularmente “jarra de cuatro picos” y muestra una decoración de i
This highly original still life presents various oysters in the fore and middle grounds—a relatively infrequent element in Meléndez’s paintings. The foreground is completed by some cloves of garlic and a decorated ceramic plate, probably from Talavera. Behind them, the powerful volume of an enormous copper pot vies for the leading role in this composition. It is tilted, as one edge rests on
This is a singular example of David Teniers´ indoor scenes. The kitchen or tavern utensils so common in his other works are completed here with a magnificent show of diverse fruit and vegetables. This converts the right part of the composition into a still life. On the left, a character shells mussels, a traditional foodstuff in the Low Countries, while another group works beside the fireplace. Th
This work belongs to the so-called peasant interiors, one of the new genres of painting that emerged and developed in Flanders and Holland in the early seventeenth century. In Houbraken and in early inventories they are described as een boertje, (a little peasant), or as toeback rookerchen, (tobacco smokers). The consolidation and appreciation of this genre was fostered by the satirical and morali
Meléndez’s works are characterized by his interest in familiar, everyday realities, which he places in the immediate foreground as if seeking direct contact with the viewer. And yet, in the context of this desire to create a repertoire of common foodstuffs and utensils, we occasionally find a more distinguished and decorative object, less popular than its everyday kitchen surroundings. Here
This tapestry cartoon represents a popular scene of Majos and Majas on the banks of Madrid´s Manzanares River. The Hermitage of the Virgin of the Port is just visible behind a group of trees on the right. Worthy of mention in this work are the still life in the foreground and the amorous play among the orange-seller and the Majos. The resultant tapestry was intended to hang in the dining roo
Several aspects of this undated work indicate it was painted during the transition between the first and second halves of the 17th century. It clearly draws on Van der Hamen but some smaller details appear to foreshadow the baroque tendencies explored by Pereda in that century’s sixth decade, when Philip IV’s (1621-1665) reign was beginning to decline. And as Pérez Sánchez pointed ou
Annibale Carracci painted these works without previous cartoons as part of a group for the chapel of San Diego de Alcalá at the Church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Rome. This church’s founder, don Diego de Herrera, commissioned Albani and Carracci to paint these works, for which the latter supplied all of the drawings. Badalocchio and Lanfranco were also involved. King Ferdinand VII had
The artist has arranged the objects in the traditional manner, locating them in the immediate foreground in order to achieve greater visual impact. The result is a simple composition but one with a marked degree of lifelikeness. It is influenced by the still lifes of similar motifs painted by the Neapolitan artist Giuseppe Recco (1634-1695), albeit without their decorative quality.
This attractive and singular mid-17th-century Spanish still life was originally thought to be by Antonio de Pereda, due to its similarity to two canvases at the Museo de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, which he signed and dated in 1651. However, notwithstanding its approximate resemblance to Pereda’s creations, a convincing attribution has yet to be encountered. Foodstuffs and utensils are scattered in com
Two splendid sea breams play the leading role here. They are surrounded by lesser motifs, including oranges, a kitchen towel, a head of garlic, and packet of what is probably spice, two terracotta bowls from Alcorcón, a long-handled pan, a mortar whose pestle leans into the background, and a cruet that participates in this work’s careful study of light as a means of defining volumes, divers
The foreground shows an everyday scene of a kitchen filled with still-life elements and two women at work. In the background, beneath a portico, Jesus can be seen visiting the house of Martha and Mary, as is told in the book of Luke (Luke 10, 38-42). This Bible story is appropriate for emphasizing spirituality over material things. The abundance of objects in the foreground, recalling the opulence
Forma parte de la serie de bodegones reunidos por el futuro Carlos IV de España y María Luisa de Borbón-Parma cuando aún eran príncipes de Asturias, para su Gabinete de Historia Natural del Palacio Real de Madrid. La documentación no llega a ponerse de acuerdo en la cantidad de obras realizadas por Meléndez para esta serie, barajándose un número entre treinta y siete y cuarenta y cinco pinturas. E
This still life´s composition and the elements depicted therein make it an excellent example of that genre´s peculiar evolution in the Madrid court during the central decades of the 17th century.It bears a curious resemblance to works known to be by Mateo Cerezo (1637-1666) and those attributed to his immediate circle, as well as to works by other artists of his time or immediately bef
A profusion of cooking utensils and hearty meats -game birds fresh from the hunt and not yet dressed, a recently-killed lamb, a calf’s head, and other cuts- are laid out on a work surface, as if the painter had found them thus in a kitchen, awaiting the preparation of a meal. The apparent disorderly informality of the painting’s composition gives it an air of immediacy and lifelikeness, but is in
This work is part of the series of six panels of monkey scenes in the Museo Nacional del Prado (from P01805 to P01810). The subject matter has been associated with human foolishness since the Middle Ages and is drawn from the oeuvre of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Peter van der Borcht. Teniers successfully captures the ambivalence of mankind in its animal nature. Apes, grouped or dispersed, are e
En primer término unos arenques ahumados ofrecen sus irregulares superficies junto a unas cebolletas de pulido contorno; al lado de ellos un pan abombado aporta su nota clara y maciza. En segundo plano se ve una jarra o puchero, panzudo, de alfarería, típico del siglo XVIII, cubierto con una tejoleta (fragmento) de plato talaverano o de Puente del Arzobispo, con la decoración llamada de “rosilla”
