Still Life with Apples, Pears, Cucumbers, Figs, Plums, and a Melon
Fede Galizia·c. 1625 - 1630
Historical Context
Fede Galizia's Still Life with Apples, Pears, Cucumbers, Figs, Plums, and a Melon, painted around 1625-1630, is a masterful work by one of the earliest and most accomplished female painters in Italian art history. Galizia, born in Milan to a miniaturist father, was a child prodigy who received her first portrait commission at age twelve. Her still lifes, characterized by simple arrangements of fruit on stone ledges, are among the earliest independent still-life paintings in Italian art.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel demonstrates Galizia's precise, luminous technique, with each fruit rendered with botanical accuracy and a subtle play of light across the varied surfaces. The austere, symmetrical composition on a stone ledge anticipates Spanish bodegón painting in its restrained elegance.
Provenance
Possibly Cardinal Cesare Monti [1594 –1650], Milan;[1] Possibly by descent to his cousin Giulio Monti [c.1604 -1686], Count of Valsassina, Milan, in 1650; Possibly Count Cesare Monti Melzi [d. 1741], Palazzo Monti (later known as Palazzo Sormani-Andreani and Verri), Milan; Possibly by descent to his family.[2] Infante Don Sebastián Gabriel Borbón y Braganza [1811 –1875], Pau.[3] Calini family Brescia, since c.1900; acquired December 2020 by (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd, London); Purchased 2022 by NGA. [1] Provenance adapted from Colnaghi catalogue entry; copy in NGA curatorial records. [2] This is suggested by a note in an inventory conducted the year after the Count’s death. [3] Crowned SG cyphers on the reverse of the painting attest to the Infante’s ownership.
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