Artwork
Still Life with Grapes, Apples and Plums
Still Life with Grapes, Apples and Plums is an oil painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Juan Bautista de Espinosa. It dates from 1630 and is held in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
About this work
Overview
Still Life with Grapes, Apples and Plums is a 1630 oil painting by Spanish Baroque artist Juan Bautista de Espinosa, featuring a composition of fruit and a clay pitcher on a table, set against a dark background.
Subject & Meaning
The painting's subject is a still life arrangement of mixed fruit—red and green apples, plump green grapes, loose plums, and hanging dark grapes—accompanied by a clay pitcher, emphasizing everyday objects in a realistic manner.
Technique & Style
Espinosa employed chiaroscuro to create a sense of realism, carefully rendering how light interacts with each fruit, producing shiny highlights and soft, blended shadows that enhance the scene's naturalism.
History & Provenance
Created in 1630, the work is part of the Museo del Prado's collection in Madrid. Espinosa, primarily known for his surviving still lifes, also produced religious and portrait works, most of which are now lost.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Juan Bautista de Espinosa (1590–1641) was a Spanish painter. Much of his work, which included religious paintings and portraits, is now untraced, and his few known extant paintings are all still lifes.
