Still Life with Fruit and Vine
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made 1620s
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 134 x 98 cm h x w x d: Ram 146 x 109 x 7 cm
Inventory numberNM 34
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum
Other titlesTitle (sv): Stilleben med frukt och vinstock Title (en): Still Life with Fruit and Vine
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 9: FORMER INV. NOS.: 440 (M. 1796–97); 461 (F. 1798); 269 (M. 1804); KM 502. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support is a single piece of coarse, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. It has been glue-lined in Sweden and remounted on the Martelli strainer. The ground is red. The paint layer is slightly abraded, the varnish yellowed. The painting is in good condition. Documented restorations: Before 1816: Restored at Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Documented restorations: 1958: Discoloured varnish removed. Lined on a linen canvas. Spots of lime removed. Deeper damage treated with shellac and filled with gypsum. Retouching. Varnish; 2002: Regeneration of varnish. Retouching. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. EXHIBITED: Barockens byggningsfolk och konststycken, Läckö Slott, Lidköping, 1999; Hans Gedda & Mörkrets Mästare, Kungliga Akademien för de fria Konsterna, Stockholm, 2013–14. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 3 (as Bonzi); Sander 1872–76, p. 117, no. 269 (as Bonzi); Göthe 1887, p. 22 (as Bonzi); NM Cat. 1941, p. 7; NM Cat. 1958, p. 20 (as Bonzi); NM Cat. 1990, p. 40 (as Bonzi). Luigi Salerno describes a particular characteristic of Bonzi’s still lifes as a “way of distributing the objects on various superposed levels to fill the entire surface of the canvas”.¹ Although this characteristic may not be immediately apparent in the present painting, it is nevertheless there. The artist has unquestionably filled the “entire surface of the canvas” of this painting as well: the superposed levels are there, only in this case the opulence of the overflowing fruit and vines' is so great that the devices used to create the levels, such as shelves, ledges or outcrops, are completely hidden. In this case, Bonzi has opted for layers of vines receding into the shadowy background and the levels are created by the canes supporting the branches, which are bent to varying degrees by the weight of the bunches of grapes. The different layers of the composition centre around the basket in the middle, filled to the brim with grapes and pears and apples in autumnal colours, which contrast sharply with one another. The detailed rendering of the different textures of the fruit, especially of the gleam and the cloudy skin of the different grapes on display, and of the vine leaves, is of the highest order and adds to the illusion of reality. Bonzi conveys the realistic feel of the fruit and vine leaves primarily through his rendering of their shades of colour, combining this typical Roman natura morta trait with the more Neapolitan-inspired chiaroscuro. There is a chance that the present painting and its pendant NM 35 (cat. no. 10) were actually ascribed to Spadino by Martelli and consequently also in Fredenheim’s catalogue of 1798.² There seems to have been some confusion as to the identity of Gobbo dei Carracci, and in Fredenheim’s catalogue he was equated with the nephew of Annibale Carracci, Agostino Carracci. Under “Antoine Carrache, dit Gobbo de Carracche”, the catalogue lists only two paintings: “Une Marchande des Fruits”, which certainly refers to the unquestionably autograph Bonzi A Fruit Vendor and a Boy (NM 36), regrettably destroyed in 1945, and a landscape which seems more in the vein of Antonio Caracci.³ Under Spadino however, five works are listed, four of which Masreliez later lists as lost.⁴ In all probability, the latter consist of two pairs of pendant paintings. One pair is described as ovals (NM 5268 and NM 5269, cat. nos. 91–92); if the other pair is identified with NM 34 and NM 35, the two paintings were reattributed to Bonzi by Corvi and Tofanelli, since the original Martelli paper labels on the verso, transcribed by Sander, described them both as “Gobbo Carracci. Frutte”. DP 1 Salerno 1984, pp. 92–97. 2 Giovanni Paolo Castelli, called Spadino, 1659–1730. 3 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). 4 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1. [end] Description from the exhibition "Masters of Darkness", 2013-2014: Bonzi’s still lifes exemplify a Caravaggesque naturalistic intensity of representation. Working with effects of natural sunlight and shadow, he made his elaborate arrangements of autumn fruit emerge from the depths of the background. Displayed on several levels as on a market stall, the stunning details and textures of the fruit, some with signs of decay, make them seem real enough to touch.
Motif categoryStill life
Collection
TechniquePainting
Keyword