(Rome 1661–1739)
Flowers in a vase by fruit on a ledge with a bird; and Fruit and flowers on a ledge,
oil on canvas, each 55.5 x 101 cm, framed (2)

We are grateful to Alberto Crispo and Maria Silvia Proni for independently suggesting the attribution to Pietro Paolo Cennini for the present paintings on the basis of high resolution digital photographs.

The recent rediscovery of two signed paintings have allowed scholars to further define Cennini´s oeuvre (see A. Crispo, Pietro Paolo Cennini e la bottega degli Stanchi, in: Parma per l’arte, XIX, 2013, pp. 63–95).

Pietro Paolo Cennini, was a pupil of Nicolò Stanchi and he worked mostly in Rome and its surroundings. Nicola Pio observed that Cennini collaborated with artists such as Carlo Maratta, Francesco Trevisani, Filippo Lauri, and Giovanni Paolo Panini (see N. Pio, Le vite di, pittori, scultori et architetti, ed. by C. Enggass, Rome, 1977, p. 197). He was considered to be a successor of Mario dei Fiori and his success is confirmed by the importance of his patrons such as the Marchese Nicola M. Pallavicini, Prince Giovanni Borghese, Duca Giuseppe Sertori and Caterina Giustiniani wife of Prince Giulio Savelli.

Cennini´s depiction nature, apparent in the present compostions, shows his accuracy and precision and flowers are arranged with fruit in a decorative style. He died in 1739 and he was buried in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. His portrait drawn by P. Zerman is in the Nationalmuseet Stockholm (see A.M. Clark, The portraits of artists drawn for Nicola Pio, in: Master Drawings, V [1967], p.107, No. 16).