Bartolomeo Ligozzi (1620-1695) - Bouquet of flowers in a glass vase

Bartolomeo LIGOZZI (Verona, 1620 - Florence, 1695).
Bouquet of flowers in a glass vase.
Around 1685-1690.
Oil on canvas.
H: 54.4 ; L: 40,3 cm.

Great nephew of the famous Jacopo Ligozzi, Bartolomeo Ligozzi is a flower painter mainly known for his active work at the Medici court in Florence.
In 1660 and 1666, Cardinal Giovan Carlo de Medici commissioned a large series of still lifes of flowers from Ligozzi. In 1686, an inventory of the Medici collections mentioned eighteen of his works in the collections of the Pitti Palace.

Consecration of the end of his career, Bartolomeo Ligozzi is acclaimed by the young Ferdinand III de Medici. The latter notably offered a still life by the artist to his future wife, Beatrice of Bavaria, during their marriage in 1689. The grand prince also owned six others paintings by Ligozzi in his Villa Pratolino, the seat of his gigantic collection. of art.

Characteristic of Ligozzi's art, our flowers painting can be dated from this period, that is to say from the end of the 1680s, given his technical mastery in the execution of flowers.
We find in particular the same treatment of buttercups, marigolds and the orange branch in a painting by the artist from the old Medici collection (Ill 3. Museum of Still Life, Poggio a Caiano). Superior, our painting nevertheless seems to come after this last work.
In its quality, it is similar to a large still life dated 1688 (Ill. 4. Museum of Still Life, Poggio a Caiano) and commissioned by the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Vittoria della Rovere, who installed it in the the apartment of his son, Francesco Maria de Medici.

List of flowers making up the bouquet: Gesner tulips, lily of the valley, hyacinths, single anemone, doubles anemones, daffodil, orange blossoms, double marigold, carnations, ranunculus.