900 - Belley, still life of fruit with melon, grapes and peaches, oil on canvas

Belley, still life of fruit with melon, grapes and peaches, oil on canvas Oil on canvas, signed 'Belley' in red lower left. On a white slab at the front edge of the picture lies a still life of fruit against a dark grey ground: a large melon with green ribs, three peaches with a red-flushed cheek, together with full bunches of grapes and a vine leaf spray falling over the right edge of the slab. The light falls from the left and models the fruit plastically against the unarticulated background. Age-appropriate condition, slight craquelure, at the upper right and lower left one area each with loss of paint and small holes. Image 38 x 46 cm (HxW), framed in a gilt-coloured, openwork ornamental frame, frame with losses, frame width 5.5 cm The still life of fruit against a dark ground goes back to Dutch models of the 17th c. and remained a basic task of painting well into the 20th c.: the arrangement of a large ribbed fruit, together with grapes and stone fruit, allows shiny, matt and velvety surfaces to be set directly beside one another. The neutral background and the light falling from the side serve solely to bring out this materiality.