(Hamburg 1658–1722 Rome)
Peaches and plums in a basket and on a pewter plate, with flowers on a stone plinth,
oil on canvas, 48 x 65 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

Born in Hamburg, Berentz was a Northern European artist who was celebrated as a still life painter in Rome. In Italy, he was employed by the collector and patron Marchese Niccolò Maria Pallavicini, who invited him to establish his studio in Palazzo Pallavicini. Pascoli, Berentz’s biographer, describes how he was invited by other Roman artists, such as Carlo Maratta, to collaborate on paintings at a relatively early stage in his career (see L. Pascoli, Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni, Rome 1730–36, vol. II, pp. 357-67).

Evidence for this collaboration is given by several known works, including the large still life dated 1696, today in the Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples, as well as Berentz’s still life executed in collaboration with Maratta, today in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg. Berentz maintained a sharpness of form and clarity in his colourful compositions, and his works can be compared to those of other foreign artists working in Rome, such as Abraham Brueghel (see L. Salerno, La Natura Morta in Italia, Rome 1984, p. 260).