Description of the picture:
Still life with a supplier – Antonio Pereda. Canvas, oil. 80×94
Antonio Pereda is a prominent painter of the Madrid school, who was influenced by Velazquez. He painted paintings on historical and biblical subjects, but gained great fame thanks to his still lifes.
In the presented work, the objects are arranged so that the viewer can admire and how to carefully consider their shapes and intricate decor. In the work there is no place for chance, almost obligatory in the Flemish still life, everything is laid out in a certain strict order.
The centerpiece is a large ebony casket lined with white bone plates. A piece of motley fabric, woven with bright folk ornament, is hung from an open chest drawer. A variety of ceramic items are located on and around the casket: a red vase with stucco molding, a vessel with ornamental painting, in which a winged female figure is visible, and other, less ceremonial vessels. Pereda carefully wrote out details such as a broken edge near the earthenware jug or scuffed watering on a painted pattern, traces of time on the fabric. The artist introduces an interesting detail into the picture – a pot-bellied glass jar filled with clear water. Immediately there is a piece of cheese, biscuits and pastries neatly laid out on a piece of white paper. By diligently conveying the color of each individual object, the master did not seek to come to one common gamut of the work as a whole, however, this мейд the still life very elegant and attractive."
