GARZONI, Giovanna
(b. 1600, Ascoli Piceno, d. 1670, Roma)

Branch of Dittany with Four Hazelnuts and Two Pears

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Tempera and traces of black pencil on vellum, 555 x 417 mm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

This work is one of the four studies of plants kept in the Uffizi, Florence.

In the present work there is a precarious balance between scientific and decorative: a dualism is revealed in the work's descriptive precision as a document, and in the inclusion of artistic conceits such as shadowing, which emphasize an artistic ambition rather than purely scientific.