Artwork
Still Life with Fruit

Still Life with Fruit is an oil painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Juan de Arellano. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting presents a collection of fruit arranged on a tabletop, symbolizing abundance and the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures. In the Spanish Baroque tradition, such still lifes often conveyed moral messages about transience and the senses, and this work reflects that symbolic intent through its careful rendering of ripe produce.
Technique & Style
Still Life with Fruit by Juan de Arellano is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support for seventeenth-century Spanish still life painting.
Still Life with Fruit by Juan de Arellano is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support for seventeenth-century Spanish still life painting. The work is modest in scale, measuring 28.5 cm in height by 37 cm in width, a format consistent with the cabinet-sized compositions for which Arellano became known.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to the still life genre, depicting fruit as its central subject. Arellano was recognized for his refined handling of floral and fruit arrangements, and this canvas reflects that focus through its tight, descriptive treatment of the produce. The combination of oil medium and canvas support allowed for the layered glazing and detailed surface rendering characteristic of the period's still life tradition.
History & Provenance
Juan de Arellano created the oil painting Still Life with Fruit on canvas. The work's inception is dated to a period between 1650 and 1660. The painting is currently held in the collection of the Museo del Prado, where it remains located.
No specific details regarding original commissions or intermediate ownership transfers prior to its museum acquisition are provided in the available records.
Overview
Still Life with Fruit is an oil painting created by Juan de Arellano around 1650. It is a representative example of a still life composition from the Baroque period.
Context
Arellano's focus on still life aligns with the period's aesthetic trends, which favored detailed and decorative representations of everyday subjects.
Artist & collection
Artist
Juan de Arellano (3 August 1614 – 13 October 1676) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque era who specialized in floral still life paintings.














