Adriaen van der Cabel (Rijswijk, 1630 or 1631 – Lyon, 16 June 1705), Still life with baskets of plums and apricots

Adriaen van der Cabel (Rijswijk, 1630 or 1631 – Lyon, 16 June 1705) Still life with baskets of plums and apricots Oil on canvas, 72 x 96 cm With frame, 91 x 117 cm Critical Note by Prof. Alberto Crispo Bibliography: A. Crispo, Adriaen van der Cabel, still life painter between the Netherlands, Rome and France, Parma per l’Arte, XXVIII, 2022. pp. 189 – 218 The present composition has been linked to the still little-known still life production of the painter Adriaen van der Cabel, mainly famous for his port views and genre scenes. This Still life passage instead testifies to the still life skills of the painter who manages to construct an orderly scene in which the absolute protagonists are the baskets full of fish and plums. The foreground is then populated with other splendid pictorial passages: the perfectly cut lemon is opposed to the pomegranate with its colored grains and the almonds still wrapped in pulp. Grapes and figs are depicted in the background, left in the shadows. Van der Cabel's still lifes are characterized by the consistent presence of fruit baskets, as well as the addition of open pomegranates and fish and plums, fruits favored by the painter. Born and raised in Rijswijk, near The Hague, Cabel began his training under the guidance of Jan van Goyen. His career took him early to Paris in 1655 and to Lyon (c. 1655-58) where he settled at a young age and spent most of his life. However, his artistic trajectory was marked by a crucial period in Rome (1659-1666), a stay that enriched his vision and style Van der Cabel, became one of Codazzi's usual collaborators in the Roman years, as demonstrated by an architecture preserved at the Uffizi. Cabel was not the only artist in his family; his brother Engel van der Cabel, also a painter and member of the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Corydon", accompanied him on his travels and settled with him in Lyon, where he became "Maître-Garde" of the Guild of Saint Luke. This close family and professional relationship underlines the importance of collaboration and artistic exchange within their circle. Van der Cabel's most significant legacy perhaps lies in his role as a mentor. He was the master and godfather of the Lyon landscape painter Adrien Manglard, introducing the latter not only to Dutch landscape painting, but also to the Roman-Bolognese style that he had assimilated during his stay in Italy. This transmission of knowledge and styles profoundly influenced Manglard, who in turn became one of the most celebrated landscape painters of his era in Rome. He died in Lyon in 1705.