Roman school circa 1640, entourage of the Hartford Master - Lot 75

Roman school circa 1640, entourage of the Hartford Master Still life with flowers, fruit bowl, melon, watermelon, grapes and bird Oil on canvas Bears a monogram AB lower right and a date 1675. 102.5 x 143 cm Provenance : -Sale Versailles, Palais des Congrès, Mes Chapelle Perrin Fromentin, February 13, 1977, no. 19 (attributed to Abraham Brueghel) from the Château de M. collections. - Acquired by the current owner's parents, by descent since. Our eminently decorative composition follows in the footsteps of Caravaggio's early Italian still-life painters, such as the Hartford Master (conventionally named after his eponymous painting in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hatford), Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1587-1625) and Tommaso Salini (ca. 1575 - before 1625). In front of a dark 38 background, various elements stand out thanks to a vigorous chromatic contrast provided by a soft, warm light, reminiscent of early seventeenth-century Tenebrism. On the left is the motif of a bowl of slightly browned pears, a symbol of the passing of time, which the Lombard master had defined in his "fruit basket". We admire the realistic rendering of the velvety texture of the peaches, the pulp of the watermelon and the melons in the foreground, the precursors of the Baroque style. At the time, all still lifes had a religious significance: on the right, the grapes refer to the Eucharist and the pomegranates symbolize the Passion of Christ. The five senses are evoked: flowers for the sense of smell, brightly colored fruit for sight and taste, and hearing through the presence of a jay, which animates the still life with a living figure. Touch is suggested by the closed books at the back, which are also vanities of knowledge. Traditionally, the delicate white butterfly represents the fragility of life and the human soul (Psyche). The whole is articulated by a series of rectangular stone entablatures, rendering a very modern cut by plane, with masses arranged separately, linked by very marked obliques, reminiscent of Cézanne's still lifes and those of the Cubist painters. Expert : Cabinet Turquin Please ask for the condition reports before the sale: they are not included in the listing.