Watermelons, grapes, cherries, figs, pomegranates and other fruit, a landscape beyond,
oil on canvas, 147.5 x 248.5 cm, framed

The present composition shows a variety of fruit depicted with great realism with contrasts of chiaroscuro. Each single item appears carefully studied in order to attain perspectival depth.

From the end of the sixteenth century onwards, still-life painting in Italy acquired an increasingly autonomous role: flowers, fruits, vegetables and birds were no longer subordinate and used only as decorative elements in painted festoons and vines, but obtained a role of their own and were represented as the main subject. Rome became the centre for this kind of production in Italy, as during this period there was an increasing interest in nature (see D. Simone, Aspetti della natura morta romana, in: A. Bacchi/F. Mambelli/E. Sambo [eds.], La natura morta di Federico Zeri, Bologna 2015, p. 271).

The present painting can be compared to other examples of Roman still-life painting from the first half of the seventeenth century deriving from the influence of Caravaggio, among them works by Giovanni Paolo Castelli, called Spadino (circa 1586–1659), and the so-called Monogrammist F. A. (see G. Bocchi, Monogrammista FA, in: Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Artisti italiani 1630–1750, Viadana (Mantova) 2005, pp. 491-498).