Fede Galizia

Private collection, Germany, since circa 1960;

From whom acquired by the present owner.

This recently discovered work was executed by Fede Galizia, a pioneering artist in the development of the European still life tradition. The fastidious, almost abstract nature of the restrained composition typifies her approach to the genre. Omitting all extraneous elements, she focuses on eight chestnuts arrayed on a silver salver; the metal’s cool sheen offsets the meaty warmth of the roasted nuts. Galizia signed the work at lower left, in a forthright display of her artistic authority. 

Like many women artists, Galizia initially trained under her father, Nunzio Galizia, a Milanese painter and miniaturist. Unusually, however, she did not focus on any single genre and instead executed still lifes, like the present painting, as well as portraits and devotional compositions. And while most celebrated for the latter two during her lifetime, Galizia’s still lifes endure as her most important art historical contribution.