Faience fruit bowl with passion fruit, crab apples and pears
Juan van der Hamen y León , 1621 (?)
54 cm × 65 cm
oil on canvas
Collection Serra de Alzaga , Valencia
Faience fruit bowl with passion fruit, crab apples and pears is a painting by the Spanish painter Juan van der Hamen y León from around 1621. The 54 cm × 65 cm still life ,paintedin oil on canvas, shows a fruit bowl in the center. It is one of the earliest known works by Juan van der Hamen and is considered one of the most colorful that he has painted. The painting belongs to the Serra de Alzaga collection in Valencia .
Image description
The still life faience fruit bowl with passion fruit, crab apples and pears is determined by the contrast between the blue and white ceramic and the fruits ranging from yellow to purple. The faience bowl is in the center of the picture and dominates the picture. She also arranges it in a symmetrical three-way division. Next to the bowl are crab apples and a pumpkin . Grapes hang down from above, which was a typical motif of Spanish still lifes from the early 17th century.
background
Juan van der Hamen y León painted in this picture the passion fruit , which came from Latin America . In doing so, he creates a reference to the Spanish colonies. He painted this fruit again in the still life Fruit Basket and Plate with Black Cherries , which was probably made around the same time. In addition, he showed the blossom of the passion flower in one of his later floral wreaths. Dating faience fruit bowls with passion fruit, crab apples and pears is difficult. It is considered to be one of the earliest known still lifes by van der Hamen, which can be seen in the comparison with the painting Still Life with Pear Plate and Bread from 1621. The image was attributed to the artist by Julio Cavestany de Anduaga . He showed it in the exhibition Floreros y bodegones en la pintura española 1935 in Madrid.
Provenance
Today the still life faience fruit bowl with passion fruit, crab apples and pears is in the Serra de Alzaga collection in Valencia . The further provenance is largely unclear. In 1936 it was in the collection of Antonio López Roberts in Madrid. Then it was in the French & Co. gallery in New York. A date of purchase and the previous owner are not known.
literature
- William B. Jordan : Juan van der Hamen y León & The Court of Madrid . Yale University Press, New Haven 2005. ISBN 0-300-11318-8 .