Artwork
Still Life with Figs and Bread
Still Life with Figs and Bread is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Luis Egidio Meléndez. It dates from 1770 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The canvas support and oil medium allowed Meléndez to build up the dense, opaque surfaces and controlled tonal transitions associated with his bodegones.
Still Life with Figs and Bread is executed in oil paint on canvas, a medium characteristic of Luis Meléndez's mature still-life production. The painting measures 47.6 cm in height by 34 cm in width, a modest, upright format suited to a tightly arranged tabletop composition. The work is classified as a painting within the still-life genre and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The canvas support and oil medium allowed Meléndez to build up the dense, opaque surfaces and controlled tonal transitions associated with his bodegones. No specific condition report, restoration history, or formal stylistic analysis is provided in the available documentation.
History & Provenance
Luis Meléndez painted Still Life with Figs and Bread in 1770. The work later entered the collection of Mlle Anna Petit by approximately 1895, remaining in her family's possession before passing into a private collection in France. The painting subsequently appeared with Edward Speelman, Ltd., London, and then with dealer Derek Johns in London.
On 15 February 2000, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., purchased the painting, which remains in its collection.
Overview
Luis Meléndez's Still Life with Figs and Bread, an oil on canvas created around 1770, exemplifies the artist's precise approach to the still life genre. The painting features a careful arrangement of everyday foodstuffs, figs, a loaf of bread, and a knife, rendered with a meticulous attention to detail that imbues the humble subjects with a compelling presence.
Subject & Meaning
The composition presents a simple yet evocative display of domestic items. Ripe figs, their skins appearing moist and plump under direct illumination, are placed alongside a rustic loaf of bread, which casts a distinct, sharp shadow. A knife, with its blade reflecting light and its handle receding into shadow, completes the scene, suggesting an imminent use or a recently concluded meal.
Context
This painting is characteristic of Meléndez's focused and understated still life compositions. His works are celebrated for their quiet intensity and the detailed observation of ordinary objects, which he elevates through his precise rendering. Similar examples of his distinctive still lifes, sharing this commitment to realism and a serene aesthetic, can be found in prominent collections such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780) was a Spanish painter. Though he received little acclaim during his lifetime and died in poverty, Meléndez is recognized as one of the greatest Spanish still-life painters of the 18th…
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