School of Seville

circa 1630-1660

Still life with a knife resting on an earthenware jug, a copper cauldron beside a tin plate with a slice of bacon on a stone step, with three oranges, two pig's trotters, a mortar and pestle and a small paper packet, probably containing spices, on a stone table

Footnotes

Provenance
Duque de Aveiro, Madrid, by descent to his grandson
The Marqués de Goubea, 1976, and thence by descent to the present owner

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, The Golden Age of Spanish Painting, 10 January-14 March, 1976, cat. no. 77

Literature
X. de Salas, The Golden Age of Spanish Painting, exh. cat., London, 1976, cat. no. 77, p. 85

Having formerly been in the great collection of the Duque de Aveiro, in his catalogue entry for the 1976 Royal Academy exhibition Xavier de Salas wrote of the present work: 'In that collection it was formerly attributed to Velásquez, and it is without doubt a Sevillian work of the highest quality, both in the composition and handling, which seems to be contemporary with the great master. It probably dates from the second third of the century.'

Not having been exhibited before the Royal Academy exhibition in 1976, it is a testament to the importance of this still life that the The Golden Age of Spanish Painting comprised such masterpieces as Juan Sánchez Cotán's Still life with vegetables hanging above a cardoon and lemons on a stone ledge, lent by the Várez-Fisa Collection, Madrid; Francisco Zurbarán's Still of ceramic and metal objects on a wooden ledge lent by the Museo del Prado; and Antonio Pereda's The Knight's Dream, lent by the Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid; not to mention a number of the Museo del Prado's best known masterpieces by El Greco, Velásquez, Zurbarán and Ribera.