NUVOLONE, Panfilo
(b. 1581, Cremona, d. 1651, Milano)

Still-Life

c. 1617
Oil on panel, 36 x 45 cm
Private collection

Grapes, grapevine leaves, two pears, and a peach rest upon a small metal fruit stand with gold trim, while a few bees flutter above the dish, drawn to the sweet fragrance of the fruit. This is a composition dear to Nuvolone, who repeats it in several versions, including ones with the fruit placed on a low chiseled dish or in a bowl. Nuvolone's composition is presumably a reworking of Fede Galizia's models, the fruit stand, in particular, was known to have been used by her beginning with her earliest works.