Master of the grotesque vase - Still Life with a Basket of Flowers and One Large and One Smaller Vase

Master of the grotesque vase

Still Life with a Basket of Flowers and One Large and One Smaller Vase

Oil on canvas. 90 x 126 cm.

Scholars have classified the work of a group of anonymous early 17th century still life painters active in various centres throughout Italy as “Master of the Grotesque Vase” (“Maestri del vaso a grottesche“). The anonymous painter of this work has combined one large and one smaller vase in the antique manner with near symmetrical arrangements of flowers and another bouquet in a basket in the left side of the work. The way the basket juts out over the edge of the carved stone bracket is reminiscent of Caravaggio's famous fruit still life in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.