Giovanni Stanchi

This still life by the still life master Giovanni Stanchi actually consists of two compositions brought together into one cohesive image. The left half is dominated by a thick marble slab on which the artist has placed fruits - lemons, a lime, a few apples, a pomegranate and a bunch of grapes - a hibiscus flower and some twigs with a blue tit and two slightly more exotic birds. To the right is an expensively dressed youth with androgynous features wearing a typical velvet beret with an ostrich feather and holding mixed flowers. Between the youth and the fruits is a stately bronze vase, which is also filled with precious flowers.

The painting is an exquisite and very representative example of Giovanni Stanchi's work. Stanchi came from an established family of artists in Rome. The oldest known documentation about him is from the year 1634, when his name is mentioned in the register of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1638 he was commissioned to paint the family coat of arms of the Barberini family, surrounded by a wreath of flowers. It was the beginning of a series of orders from prominent art patrons in Rome, including Cardinal Flavio Chigi, who is said to have owned fourteen works by Stanchi; Benedetto Pamphili, who commissioned eighteen works; and Cardinal Mario Albrizi, who owned nine of his paintings. A large number of works by Stanchi were also included in the significant collections of the Colonna and Barberini families. Even the Medici family was said to be fond of Stanchi's style.

Stanchi also enjoyed success as a painter of decortive schemes. Examples of palace interiors decorated by him and his studio staff are the Chigi family's palace in Ariccia, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the Doria-Pamphili palace on Via del Corso in Rome. Stanchi's work shows some similarities with Flemish still life painting, but there is also a clear fascination for light effects. The compatriot and predecessor Caravaggio with his characteristic chiaroscuro - dim light - has probably not left him unaffected. Over time, however, he developed a very personal style, which gave him the nickname "Stanchi dei Fiori" - the flower stanchi.