Attributed to Bartolomé Montalvo

Attributed to BARTOLOMÉ MONTALVO (Madrid, 1769- 1846)
"Still life with sweets".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents Repainting and restorations in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 53,5 x 70,5 cm; 80 x 96 cm (frame).
Still life resolved with a naturalistic language captured with precise brushstrokes and contrasting lights. The artist blurs the line between the base of the still life and the background, thus creating an image in which both merge with the intention of enhancing the main elements of the scene, a resource that was common in the still life school of the Baroque tradition. The artist presents the different elements in the foreground and as a frieze, in such a way that he simplifies the composition in search of a clear image of apparent visual simplicity. However, both the ceramic plate and the metal plate are slightly inclined in such a way as to allow the viewer to better observe the contents of the interior. A resource that reveals the mastery of the artist's hand.
Aesthetically the work is reminiscent of the painting of Bartolomé Montalvo, a disciple of Zacarías González Velázquez. According to Pérez Sánchez, he must have also studied in Italy. His training was completed at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he enrolled in 1785 and became an academician of merit in 1814. A year later, in 1815, he was appointed chamber painter to Ferdinand VII, for whom he painted a series of landscapes of the Royal Sites that would allow him, from that moment on, to enjoy a certain economic stability until his death. Years before, in the early date of 1795, Montalvo appears collaborating with Mariano Salvador Maella in the realization of the "Allegories of the Seasons" along with Vicente López, José de Madrazo, José Aparicio, Ramón Lletget, José Leonino Peros, Juan Gálvez and Carlos Mariani. During his training at the Academy he specialized in landscape painting, although he never abandoned his fondness for still lifes, presenting some of them in the Exhibitions held at the Academy since 1793. Thus, in 1807 he exhibited a "Still Life with Hare", in 1808 a "Still Life with Fish" along with four landscapes and, in 1819, four more works of similar nature. In 1814 he applied for the title of Academician of Merit, citing among his merits the fact that he had been granted a pension by Charles IV in the field of landscape painting, as well as having held several positions for the monarch, which indicates that his relationship with the court had begun several years earlier. Among his works it is worth mentioning the marine and landscape paintings destined to decorate the room of fine woods of the palace of El Escorial, as well as his still lifes of hunting, indebted to those of Luis Egidio Meléndez. In his still lifes the Neapolitan influence can be appreciated. Regarding his aesthetics, and especially in his facet of still life, his great gifts as a colorist and his good use of light have always been valued. In the inventories of goods made after his death we discover that the artist owned a magnificent collection of paintings and prints, although we do not know how many were by his hand.