UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active 1620s in Lombardy)

Vase of Flowers

1620s
Oil on canvas, 61 x 45 cm
Private collection

Stylistically, this painting is midway between local naturalist tradition and the contribution of Northern European art, which was very fertile in Milan. The placement of the lily that closes off the composition - the Marian flower par excellence - is hardly fortuitous, and clearly makes a declaration of religious symbolism through a sort of mystical elevation.