Atributed to Bartolome Perez de la Dehesa
Madrid, 1634 – Madrid, 1693
Flowers in a Wickered Basket on a Stone Ledge
Oil on unlined canvas
H. 57,8 cm. W. 71,7 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Paris;
Private collection, Monaco
LITERATURE
Epifani, M. (2004). In: ‘Fiori. Cinque secoli di pittura floreale’, exhibition catalogue, Biella, pp. 203–04, no. 75, pp. 203-204, reproduced p. 224
REFERENCE LITERATURE
Pérez Sánchez, A. E. (1983). Pintura española de bodegones y floreros de 1600 a Goya. Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, cat. nr. 87, 88 and 92
EXHIBITION
Museo del Territorio Biellese, Biella, Italy, Fiori. Cinque secoli di pittura floreale, 21st March – 27th June 2004
In his catalogue entry (Biella, 2004) Mario Epifani compares the present Fiori in una canestra (Flowers in a basket) to several other signed and dated works by Bartolomé Pérez kept in the collection of Museo Del Prado in Madrid. Pérez derived his interest in Flemish painting from his teacher and father-in-law Juan de Arellano, but was even more influenced by Italian still life painters such as Mario Nuzzi and Paolo Porpora, to whome some of his works have been attributed in the past. Epifani states that the present painting appears to be an early work by Pérez, a little know phase within his artistic oeuvre, when he was still strongly influenced by De Arellano. He compares the present piece to a similar composition kept in Museo Del Prado (Pérez Sánchez, 1983, cat. 92) and two other canvases of his hand also at the Prado, (Pérez Sánchez, 1983, cat. 87 and 88). Pérez’s lighting is much more intense to that of his master, whichs adds a sense of drama and aesthetic tension reinforced by the color scheme. The theme of the flower basket was widespread in Spanish painting, already in the first half of the seventeenth century. This kind of paintings can be linked to Caravaggesque models, known to Iberian painters since at least 1620. The painting is framed in original 17th century walnut frame.
