Anna Caterina Gili

Examining with interest this lively "Still Life" (oil on oval canvas, 60 x 80 cm without frame and 78 x 88 cm with frame), set outdoors in a park with a small fountain in the foreground on the left and pines in the background. The inventive dynamics are focused on various floral groups, the main one scattered on the ground along with a majolica dish at the foot of a small squared base with other flowers on top, while on the right a pot-bellied vase is on a pillar of original shape, from which descends a floral scroll that rejoins other flowers at the bottom. The scene has a brilliant chromatic fabric with a prevalence of blue and a clear luminosity that constitutes its element of cohesion. The stylistic and typological as well as pictorial imprint, together with its exhibition taste in line with full adherence to the French rocaille - a direct consideration of Monnoyer and his direct following is perceived - allow to establish a placement of this pleasant and refined "Still Life" in the Piedmontese area of the first half of the eighteenth century, and consequently to identify its author as Anna Caterina Gili (Turin, 1700 -1754). A specialist in the sector who acted in parallel to the better known Michele Rapous, but who deserves to be brought back to light, given her certainly relevant activity, considering her qualified executions for the Savoy court, which attest to a more branched personality than her colleague, and from whose comparison it is possible to trace back her hand for the refined "Still Life" taken into consideration here. The present "Still Life", examined here, constitutes a significant testimony of the gifts of this pleasant Turin painter, who was able to satisfy with natural spontaneity the furnishing purposes and the taste of the minor aristocracy rotating around that of the court, benefiting from the cosmopolitan climate established in the Savoy capital, thanks to the modern direction exercised by Juvarra who, called to Turin by Vittorio Amedeo II, worked there until 1735, when he was called to the court of Madrid, not only as an architect - he changed the face of the city - but also as an entrepreneur calling several emerging masters from all Italian pictorial schools. Gili must have certainly benefited from these inputs, always maintaining a basic stylistic angle gravitating on contemporary French painting, with particular attention to Monnoyer and his following, as mentioned above. The paintings and art objects published here are my exclusive property and therefore are always available to be viewed in person, by appointment, in my exhibition sites located in Sanremo and Brescia. The work, like all our objects, is sold with a FIMA photographic certificate of authenticity and lawful origin; this document identifies the object bringing added value to the article. We personally take care of and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance worldwide. Dr. Riccardo Moneghini Art Historian