ONOFRIO LOTH | Still life of grapes, pomegranates, and peaches in a landscape

oil on canvas; signed with monograph lower left: 'HI (U?) OL F' ('OL' in ligature)

The canvas is lined. The painting shows a decorative image with some of its details well preserved especially on the fruit. Inspection under UV reveals a slightly uneven and milky varnish. There are some scattered spots of retouches here and there, like on some of the leaves, the landscape in the background, the vase at top center, and the darker shadows. The painting is stable and can hang in its present state. Offered in a carved giltwood frame, with some minor losses.
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Onofrio Loth was a student of Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo in Naples before moving to Rome. The complex composition, which includes a vase at an elevated angle with leaves and grapes flowing from it and an idyllic landscape that opens the background, is similar to the arrangement in his painting at the Galleria Spada, Rome.¹ Although his representation of the elements in these works reveals the influence of his teacher, Loth’s development as an artist in his own right can be seen in his detailed handling of the grapes and foliage. Other works by Loth that depict grapes in such a lifelike manner and are similarly signed with the 'OL' in ligature exist in private collections.² We are grateful to Dr. Fred Meijer for suggesting the attribution on the basis of photographs.

1. See G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Still Life Painters in Rome: Italian Artists 1630-1750, Verona 2005, reproduced p. 698, fig. OL.1.
2. See Ibid., reproduced pp. 702-3, figs. OL.4 and OL.5.