Master of the Fertility of the Egg

(Brescia active in the 17th Century)
A grotesque scene with a cat beating a drum,
oil on canvas, 92 x 140 cm, framed
Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, Milan, 1 June 2004, lot 158 (as Master of the Fertility of the Egg);
where acquired by the present owner

The works of the Master of the Fertility of the Egg, such as the present painting are characterised by a variety of figures engaging in disorganised actions and reactions alluding to metaphorical meanings – possibly to the ridiculousness and vanity of human existence. This, at present, anonymous seventeenth-century painter was active in the area around Brescia and his works relate to those of Faustino Bocchi (1659–1742). The artist is now conventionally identified as ‘The Master of the Fertility of the Egg’ after the subject of one of his paintings conserved in the Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin.

In the present composition a series of caricature figures and animals are placed in front of a dark background to enable its non-linear narrative on different compositional planes. Taking up most of the central middle ground is a cat playing a drum with an exasperated dog appearing from the inside.