Giovanni Paolo Castelli, detto Spadino

Still life in a landscape with fruit and game Attributable to Giovanni Paolo Castelli, known as Spadino (Rome, 1659 – 1730) Oil on canvas, 67 x 89 cm, framed 90 x 109 cm. Short video of the work: https://youtu.be/3sYC5rgpsg0 Full details of the work: https://www.antichitacastelbarco.it/it/prodotto/natura-morta-in-un-paesaggio-con-frutta-e-selvaggina An open-air setting, with a hilly landscape opening in the distance in the central part, frames our beautiful canvas, which showcases a rich selection of game and fruit, arranged in the foreground close to the viewer's point of view, occupying a large part of the visual field with their bright and festive colors. The style and quality of the work, as well as the pictorial technique of this still life, characterized by subtle luminous vibrations and a lively color palette, make it attributable to the Roman Giovanni Paolo Castelli, known as lo Spadino (Rome, 1659 – 1730), one of the most important specialists of this pictorial genre in late Baroque Rome, who had a very successful career between the 17th and 18th centuries. Analyzing the rich and heterogeneous catalog of the Roman master, in fact, our canvas can be included among his rare works that, alongside a selection of fruit - among which large melons, ripe figs, dark grapes and plums stand out - we see an inclusion of game, presumably as requested by a client who loved hunting. Next to various birds, the spoils of a profitable hunting trip, there is also a small green woodpecker, with the characteristic red patch on its head, and a cute rodent peeking out from behind the trunk. The painter indulges in a skillful and brilliant chromatic texture of the surfaces, through a pictorial material rendered with exceptional vibration in its luminous and 'tactile' corporeity, fully respecting the taste of the full Roman Baroque. Inevitable and evident are the Flemish suggestions, which had influenced the Roman Baroque still life, in particular the work of Abraham Brueghel. Giovanni Paolo Castelli could boast a family workshop (where his brother and son worked) that was long appreciated in Rome in the second half of the 17th century, specialized in the genre of still life, which allowed him to quickly achieve considerable fame, working for the most important Roman families, such as the Chigi, Cardinal Pamphili, who owned as many as eleven Spadino, the Spada and the Rospigliosi. For comparative purposes, among the works analogous to ours, similar in scenic and stylistic organization, we can mention: - Still life with melon, peaches, grapes, game, guinea pig and hens, Sotheby's, New York, January 17, 1992, and now Private Collection, Mantua, http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/90622/Castelli%20Giovanni%20Paolo%2C%20Natura%2.. - Still life with pomegranates, peaches, plums and birds (Private Collection, Gardone Riviera) http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda.v2.jsp?tipo_scheda=OA&id=90633&titolo=Castell... - Still life with fruit and parrot, Pinacoteca Civica "Domenico Inzaghi", Budrio - Still life with fruit, mushrooms and bird, Antiques Market, Verona - Still life with watermelon, peaches, grapes and pomegranate, Pinacoteca Civica "Fortunato Duranti", Montefortino - Still life with melon, watermelon, peaches, grapes, figs and pomegranate, Private Collection (http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/89763/Castelli%20Giovanni%20Paolo%2C%20Natura%2...) - Still life with fruit, jug and bird, Palazzo Blu, CariPisa Foundation collection, Pisa The painting is completed by a pleasant antique frame that suits it well and is sold with a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law. Follow us on: https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/