Still Life With Fruit And Vegetables, Rome, 17th Century

Painting, oil on canvas, measuring 53 x 70 cm unframed and 69 x 86 cm with a period frame, depicting a still life of fruits and vegetables by the painter Pietro Paolo Bonzi, known as Gobbo dei Carracci (Cortona 1576 – Rome 1636).

This painter’s works were mostly genre scenes, convivial group portraits, and individual portraits, but also included religious themes and, above all, still lifes. The Caravaggesque influence is strongly evident in the naturalness of the subjects, in their almost theatrical portrayal, and in the use of light.

Observing the fruit and analyzing the application of the paint—with its rather dense texture—the pursuit of naturalistic lighting effects, and their warm color palette, one finds them perfectly in harmony with the rest of the canvas and, above all, with the art of our great painter.

The exceptional quality of Bonzi’s work and his still lifes, along with the fundamental role he played in the evolution of this genre, are an invaluable resource for understanding the art and evolution of the still life in 17th-century Italy.