1168 - TOMÁS YEPES (Valencia, 1595–1674)

TOMÁS YEPES (Valencia, 1595–1674) "Landscape with a Fruit Still Life and the Myth of Perseus and Andromeda." Oil on canvas This painting is an excellent example of Yepes’s full range of skills; it includes a landscape, fruit, ceramics, and figures, creating a rich and exuberant composition of great beauty and decorative appeal. It features his characteristic fruit still lifes in ceramic bowls, such as the Delft Fruit Bowl seen on the right side of the composition, overflowing with apricots, pears, and cherries—very similar to the one depicted in the *Delft Fruit Bowl* and two vases, dated 1642 and now housed in the Prado Museum (P0007910); surrounded by red and pink carnations and splendid roses on the left, beneath a grapevine laden with clusters of grapes—very similar to the one painted around 1645 and also housed in the Prado Museum, on display in Gallery 018. These plant elements create a frame for the landscape, which opens toward the horizon in the upper right—a recurring motif in the painter’s work, as seen in other examples such as those in the BBVA collection with inventory numbers P02137 and P02138, and there, in this distant landscape, the myth of Perseus and Andromeda is depicted—probably taken from an engraved source—thus creating a composition of particular interest, as it is unusual for the Valencian painter to include figures in his works. Dimensions: 110 x 157 cm