This splendid late 17th-century Italian still life depicts a vibrant arrangement of flora set within a basket, with fruit alongside. It’s similar to works by Italian artist Giuseppe Vincenzino (1662-c.1700) who flourished in Milan and Lombardy.

Vivid roses, elongated tulips, buoyant carnations and others, bustle for space amid a basket on a stone ledge. It’s emphatically baroque and set before a far-reaching nocturnal landscape with a dark brooding sky. It’s a juxtaposition of beauty and decay, a contrast of life and death - both melodramatic and symbolic.

For late 17th-century art connoisseurs, simple depictions of animated blooms lacked deeper meaning. They needed more profundity, an aspect of the existential. Hence, artists often included references to one’s own mortality, such as the broken stems of fallen flowers as we see here.

A fascinating survivor with an interesting historical context.

Held in a 19th-century carved giltwood frame.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 40½” x 32” / 103cm x 82cm
Year of creation: c. 1690
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Canvas relined. Craquelure throughout. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Our reference: BRV2042