Bernardo Polo

The canvas is unlined but is stable on its stretcher, though stretcher bar marks are faintly visible along all edges of the surface. The paint surface is a little dirty beneath an old varnish, but still reads very well. A reading under UV is slightly difficult due to the thick old varnish, but there appears to be some strengthening to the pattern of the vase at left and to its shadow. There is some minor retouching in some of the flowers, and possible further retouching to the edges of the canvas. Depending on taste, the painting could perhaps benefit from a light clean and revarnish, but is otherwise ready to hang in its present state. Offered in a carved painted and gilt wood frame.
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Bernardo Polo is recorded as working in Zaragoza, the capital of Aragón, in the third quarter of the 17th century.  His highly distinctive body of work was formerly grouped under the pseudonym the "Pseudo-Hiepes” by William Jordan and Peter Cherry.   It was not until 2009 that the first signed work by Polo came to light, allowing for the identification of a corpus of over forty still lifes to this master.¹  A variation in quality and repetition of compositional elements among the known works indicates that Polo most likely had a large workshop with studio assistants in order to meet the demand for his highly popular compositions.  Based on images, Dr. William Jordan believes this painting to be a collaboration between Bernardo Polo and his workshop.

1.  See W.B. Jordan, "El Pseudo-Hiepes es Bernardo Polo," in Archivo Español de Arte, LXXXII, 328, October-December 2009, pp. 393-403.