Still-Life of Fruit
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Oil on canvas, 75 x 60 cm
Private collection

by Juan Bautista de Espinosa (b. ca. 1590, ?, d. ca. 1641, Madrid)

Espinoza is perhaps best known for his studies of fruit, and especially grapes, both today as well as during his lifetime. The present painting, showing a still-life of red and white grapes in a blue-and-white porcelain bowl, together with figs and pears, all arranged upon a table draped with a carpet, illustrates the artist's interest in the depiction of differing textures and surfaces, most notably in the juxtaposition of three varieties of grapes heaped upon the ceramic bowl, which are rendered with a remarkable subtlety.