Lot 2027 Dα

Pietro Paolo Bonzi was trained in Rome under Giovanni Battista Viola and later worked in the circle of Carracci and Domenichino, becoming known above all for landscapes and still lifes. Baglioni reports that the Cortonese painter was active in the Academy founded by Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, which promoted the development of the still life genre. Although only two works with the artist's signature have been identified so far and his œuvre is relatively little known, Bonzi worked for the most important patrons of his time - Giustiniani, Colonna, Ruspoli, Mattei, Pallavicini-Rospigliosi and Mazzarino - and must be considered one of the pioneers in the field of still lifes in Italy. His naturalistic, refined and somehow archaic style is characterised by balanced, paratactic compositions and shows strong references to Mannerist models; thus the artist later developed a more Baroque approach, with the insertion of repoussoir elements and the adoption of Caravaggesque lighting, which lends the works drama and movement. In the present composition, a soft light entering from the upper left-hand side illuminates the different surfaces of the fruits, metal objects and planes, thus sharply defining the balanced and naturalistic composition. Although it is difficult to define a consistent chronological order within Bonzi's work, for the time being the work can be attributed to the early phase of his maturity. An exact comparison for the use of light, the surface treatment and the composition, which is broken in its balance by the insertion of disturbing diagonal elements, can be found within Bonzi's work "Fruit Still Life with a Boy dressed as Bacchus" (Galerie Canesso. Biennale des Antiquaire. Paris Grand Palais 2008).