Pietro Navarra

A group of still lifes formerly given to the hand known as "The Monogrammist P.N." was identified by the late Prof. Federico Zeri as being by the painter Pietro Navarra.  Navarra’s style is reminiscent of other still-life artists working in Rome and Naples at the same time, namely Giovanni Paolo Spadino and Christian Berentz, but Navarra’s works are imbued with a characteristic vivacity of color and light.  The artist is able to capture in paint every naturalistic detail; from the crystal-like texture of the pomegranate seeds to the glistening dew on the fruit (these reflective droplets of water are a characteristic of Navarra's still lifes). The present painting may be compared to two other monogrammed still lifes by the artist today in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome (reproduced in F. Zeri ed., La Natura Morta in Italia, Milan 1989, p. 825, cat. nos. 978 and 979). 

Little is known of Navarra’s early training but it has been plausibly suggested that he was a student of Franz Werner von Tamm during the latter's sojourn in Rome between 1685 and 1695. According to the biographer Lione Pascoli in his Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori e Architetti moderni, Navarra was active in Rome in the early 1690s, before Tamm arrived in that city, and he tentatively identifies Navarra as the young apprentice of Monsù Daprait (Von Tamm) who exhibited still lifes at San Salvatore in Lauro between 1696 and 1707.