Spanish school; 17th century.

Spanish school; XVII century.
"Still life".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 84 x 120 cm; 111 x 147 cm (frame).
In this work, the author offers us a dynamic and scenographic still life, typically baroque, which combines a genuinely Spanish base in the approach to the genre with an Italian influence characteristic of the Valencian school of the baroque. This work stands out for its exceptionality, as it seems to integrate two still lifes arranged at different heights in a staggered manner. It is true that in the Spanish still life school the presentation at different heights was a characteristic feature; however, in this case, the artist goes further, developing two independent still lifes composed of multiple elements. Despite this duplicity, there is a great symmetry in the work that brings balance to this profuse scene.
The Valencian school was in the seventeenth century very influenced by the tenebrism of Caravaggio, given that Italian paintings destined for the royal collections arrived in Spain through the port of Valencia. We find ourselves here before a work that combines the compositional dynamism of the full baroque with a chromatic and light treatment directly derived from Caravaggio. The bright and anti-classical tones of the flowers, among which pink and red stand out, are joined by a whole series of earthy, ochre and carmine colors that form the basis of the Caravaggesque palette, constituting an interesting visual counterpoint. With respect to the general structure, we find ourselves before a work clearly framed in the full Spanish Baroque, very close to the painting of Tomás Hiepes. Valencian painter who is currently considered the most prominent still life painter of the Valencian Baroque and, in fact, to him we owe the greatest interest in this genre in the Valencian area. Although he was born around 1610, Yepes already enters the second half of the century, and in fact he continues working until the seventies, although he does not evolve too much; in his work we do not see the dynamism of Arellano's flowers, since he continues to arrange them in a radial, geometric way, in the manner of the first Spanish Baroque, as we see in this canvas. The present work continues the precepts of this master of still life. His language is characterized by several features that we can observe here: importance of naturalism, detailed and precise technique especially visible in the qualities of the objects, mainly warm chromatic range, typically Valencian; influence of the Neapolitan still life in the brightness and sumptuousness of some elements and a certain tenebrist character in the lighting. The artist, as Hiepes did in his day, places all the objects in the foreground: the vase with flowers, the fruit bowl with blackberries and figs, the peaches or the small melon. Today we know little biographical information about Tomás Hiepes; his works appear signed between 1642 and 1674, the year of his death, and he develops a still life related to Castile and Italy, although we do not know how this last influence reached him. His works are currently kept in the Prado Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia and the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid, among other public and private collections.