Cristoforo Munari

Still life with a wine glass, open cask, watermelon, and mushrooms; Still life with slices of melon, apples, a lemon, and ceramicware

Auction Closed

January 27, 09:38 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection

Cristoforo Munari

Reggio Emilia 1667 - 1720 Pisa

Still life with a wine glass, open cask, watermelon, and mushrooms;

Still life with slices of melon, apples, a lemon, and ceramicware

a pair, both oil on canvas

each canvas: 28¾ by 10⅛ in.; 73.0 by 25.7 cm.

each framed: 33¼ by 14⅝ in.; 84.5 by 37.1 cm.

(2)

F. Baldassari, Cristoforo Munari, Milan 1999, pp. 192-193, cat. nos. 102, 103, reproduced p. 193 and in color p. 92.

A specialist in the still life genre, Cristoforo Munari probably executed this beautifully preserved pair of paintings around 1711, when the Emilian-born artist was working for the Medici court in Florence. The attention to realistic detail, evident in the sliced cantaloupe's seeds and strings, and subtle reflections, visible on the the wine glass and cask and on the watermelon's rind, are characteristic of Munari's oeuvre. These stylistic elements also reveal Munari's debt to Northern artists, most especially Jan Davidsz. de Heem. The pair's elongated form suggest they may originally have served as overdoors.