Author
Panfilo Nuvolone
Biography
(Cremona 1581- Milan 1651)
Date
First half 17th century
Technique
Oil on canvas
Size
50 x 60 cm
Description:
The work is part of the full Lombard traction of the second half of the 16th century, when, the innovations introduced by Caravaggio and the aesthetic studies of the area concurred in the formation of a new cultural climate and realism, and becoming the Italian center for the birth of the pictorial genre of still lifes.
Nuvolone portrays a shiny plate full of fruit with clear Christological significance.
Even in the most virtuous still lifes there were often hidden messages that of clear didactic-moralizing intent that alluded to the transience of life and the exaltation of spiritual life.
The fig was a symbol of the people of Israel, and this fruit is offered to Christ in Scripture as the first fruit of the harvest.