(Seville 1627–1685 Madrid)
Still life with fish, game, fruit, vegetables, shells and flowers in a ceramic vase,
signed and indistinctly dated left (on the ledge): F Herrera fecit 16..,
oil on canvas, 100 x 158 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galleria d’Orlane, Casalmaggiore;
Private collection, Swizerland

Exhibited:
Imola, Musei Civici, Fruges. Frutta dipinta su tela e maiolica dal XVI al XVIII secolo, 8 - 23 November 2003, no. 3

Literature:
G. Bocchi/U. Bocchi, Naturalia. Nature morte in collezioni pubbliche e private, Turin 1992, pp. 340-343, pl. 122;
G. Bocchi in: Fruges. Frutta dipinta su tela e maiolica dal XVI al XVIII secolo, ed. by G. Asioli Martini, exhibition catalogue, Imola 2003, pp. 22-23;
G. Bocchi/U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Artisti stranieri 1630-1750 / Still Life Painters in Rome. Foreign Artists 1630-1750, Viadana 2004, p.16 and pp. 18-19, fig. FH.3

The present exceptional still life is the only known signed work by Francisco de Herrera the Younger, from Seville. It is therefore a main starting point for reconstructing of the artist’s activity. Herrera worked In Italy where he specialised in the production of bodegones, or still life paintings, mainly representing fish from which he gained the psuedonym ‘Spagnolo degli pesci’ [‘Spaniard of the fish’] (see: E. Valdivieso, Historia de la pintura sevillana, Seville 1986, pp. 199-200).

He was apprenticed to the studio of his father, Francisco de Herrera the Elder, who was possibly the teacher of the young Diego Velázquez, and moved to Rome in 1647. Here he immediately gained acclaim as a talented painter and it is likely that his unusual choice of still life subjects brought about the fame he enjoyed during his brief sojourn. His paintings are documented in the 18th century inventories of important Roman collections, such as the collection of Don Ferdinando Orsini, who possessed three paintings of fish by the ‘Spagnolo’ (see

Literature:
G. Bocchi/U. Bocchi, 2004, p. 15). Moreover, his Andalusian biographer, Palomino, states that by the 18th century Herrera’s works could not be found in Spain, because they were so highly sought after by the international market (see: J. Cavestany, Floreros y Bodegónes en la Pintura española, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 1936-40, nos. 73-75).

On his return to Spain in 1650, first to Madrid and then to Seville, Francisco de Herrera abandoned this naturalistic genre to devote himself to figure painting. He was a founding member, and together with Murillo, the first president of the Academy at Seville, and from 1660 he established himself definitively in Madrid where he became court painter.

The still life presented here certainly belongs to the artist’s Roman period, and it is therefore of prime importance for the understanding of this little known aspect of the artist’s output.

In the present composition, there are sweet water fish, game including wild rabbit, a woodcock and larks, as well as flowers, vegetables and on the right, in the background, a shell and vase on a shelf. This broad figurative tableau is typical of Italian painting and was likely derived from life studies that the artist would have made during his Italian residency. Notable among the fish in the foreground is a pike, which at the time was very diffused in Italy, but absent from Spanish waters. The ceramic vase, on the other hand, is typical of mid-century productions from Delft, demonstrating the broad diffusion, even in southern Europe, that such products had reached by this time. Herrera’s abilities as a painter are exhibited in the silvery reflections of the fish and by his handling of light to model volume as well as the sharp focus he applied to each represented element. The present work was most probably executed for a prestigious patron given Its large size and the complexity of the compostion.

The innovations introduced in the mid-century by the ‘Spagnolo degli pesci’ to this particular field of still life painting, were to play an important role in the genre’s development. His influence was especially strong in Naples, which was in direct contact with Spanish culture, especially among families of painters such as the Recco and Ruoppolo.