Natura morta (in Italian) or

Still life

Basket of Fruit (oil on canvas, 46 x 64.5 cm, 1596 ca., Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana) of Caravaggio , one of the most famous examples of still life Still life is a kind of representation painting that is depicting inanimate objects. Usually the objects depicted are fruit and flowers, but also various types of objects, such as musical instruments, fish and other animals. The still life is set up as independent genre until the early seventeenth century, however, we find the oldest figurative experiences. During the Hellenistic period developed between the second and third centuries BC asarotos (house not swept) and xenia (gifts cards for guests). The former were decorated with mosaics on the floors representing food remains such as lemon peel attributed to Sosos. Probably the idea drew inspiration from the cult of the dead: food dropped table was intended for family dead. Still not clear however is the function of xenia, it's frescoes according to some theories of scholars were the gifts of welcome to the guests. In the seventeenth century artists sometimes recall the previous archaeological known through Roman mosaics using the authority of the 'classics' to vindicate the dignity of a genre considered minor. The focus on the representation of the object returns only after centuries, starting from 1300 when the culture pays attention to the symbolic value of objects, such as skulls that represent the memento mori and vanitas , or dried flowers that remind all 'Man that beauty is ephemeral and transient. Often these warnings. The object is a symbol of a message and not an end in itself. Even in the fourteenth-century Italian culture we can trace the antecedents of the "still life in the role of Giotto's followers and other Tuscan artists of the fourteenth century in the representation of environments sena figures. Significant also tells the Vasari of Giotto still a pupil of Cimabue painted a day fly on a fresco and tried to shake it off Cimabue seeing only to realize the joke and how the student was able. The still life 'modern' is a specific field of experimentation in the fifteenth century wooden inlays. Scope favorite for the amazing tutorials of the pioneers of perspective, the wooden

panels simulate frequently cupboard doors and shelves where they are placed with items, anticipating solutions and subjects that will be adopted in the seventeenth century. In the fifteenth century, the origins of the genre are connected to Flemish painting and that of Antonio Leonelli from Crevalcore , where they appear in the detail of St. Paul in the triptych of Etrepy and other works a series of still lifes. Particular the role of wood inlays that experience solazioni adopted later in painting. in the sixteenth century a growing attention to the representation of objects and shapes of the natural world. You may recall for example the work of Giovanni da Udine which remains popular representation of musical instruments at the foot of Santa Lucia represented in a painting by Raphael , and the grotesques and wreaths of Villa Farnesina rich in many plant forms

Index

1 The seventeenth century 2 The eighteenth century 3 See also 4 Bibliography 5 other projects 6 External links

The seventeenth century

The seventeenth century experienced a remarkable development of works depicting still life. Among the many Italian artists who engage with particular Fortunately, we can remember:

Caravaggio Fede Galizia Giovanni Antonio Nessoli Paolo Porpora

Antonio Paolucci considered among the most beautiful still lifes of the seventeenth century a framework anonymous, but not hyper realistic: the Flask with flowers [1] , currently kept in the Pinacoteca of Forl [2] . In the seventeenth century, among others, by Evaristo Baschenis , some works are on display at ' Accademia Carrara of Bergamo . His subjects are mainly musical instruments that reflect the importance of the link between music and spirituality. He painted with great attention to the real, creating trompe l'oeil which is not only more subjects of the painting: in a particular case paints a layer of dust that seems to coat the framework, thus creating a conceptual trompe l 'oeil painting rather than on the in the painting. It offers a new way to live the experience of perception, can paint a fly as if it were part of the picture, or as if it is accidentally on the canvas, are different levels of the same fiction. In the seventeenth century still life spread all over Europe, first in Flanders and the Netherlands but also in Spain (the so-called bodegones) and France. Some of the most

famous painters of still lifes of the time are Pieter Claesz , Willem Kalf , Abraham van Beyeren , Francisco de Zurbaran and Sbastien Stoskopff .