Following models of Juan de Arellano; 19th century.

Spanish School Following models of JUAN DE ARELLANO; XIX century.
"Still life with flowers".
Oil on old canvas.
It has slight damage on the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 55 x 73,5 cm.
Still life of flowers that aesthetically follows the stylistic precepts of the full Spanish baroque, with a magnificent treatment of the qualities, the colors and, especially, the effective tenebrist illumination, which gives the flowers a presence and a three-dimensional aspect that reaches an illusionist level, almost trompe l'oeil. The flowers, worked in shades of red, ochre and white, emerge from the half-light in a wicker basket, worked with great skill. The work follows the models of Juan de Arellano, an artist specialized mainly in flower paintings, who achieved great skill in composing, with a contrasting palette, sensual bouquets in a language fully inscribed in the Spanish Baroque. After a first stage dedicated to religious painting, Juan de Arellano decided to abandon the figure to specialize in the floral genre. In this sense, it is necessary to transcribe the response that the biographer and theorist. Palomino put in his mouth when asked about his almost exclusive dedication to flower painting: "Because in this I work less and earn more". Palomino also reports his possible stay in Alcalá de Henares before arriving in Madrid to work in the workshop of Juan de Solís. Arellano must have perceived the success that flower painting could have at the court, where the market of fans of this genre was largely nourished through imports. In his works we can intuit the overcoming of the tradition of Juan van der Hamen -continued by his pupil Antonio Ponce, in a more formal and rigid way-, transmuted in a direction of greater baroque complication.