1610 - ANTONIO GIANLISI

ANTONIO GIANLISI Still Life with Brocade Draperies, Cakes, Candied Fruit, and a Flask Oil on canvas, 86x123 cm This painting is fully representative of Antonio Gianlisi the Younger’s oeuvre, displaying his typical characteristics, including the intimacy of the interiors enclosed by sumptuous draperies edged with golden fringes. The same fringe—a hallmark of Gianlisi’s paintings—edges the rugs covering the two tables, upon which magnificent decorated shortcrust pastries are placed. In the background on the right, an open door offers a glimpse of a landscape featuring distant tree branches. The reference to the artist’s work is evidenced not only by the customary iconographic repertoire but also by the composition and arrangement of the rug, shaped with seemingly disheveled folds, in such a way as to alternate light and shadow, lending depth to the composition. After training as a young man in Piacenza and Parma, Gianlisi worked as a decorator in Bergamo and Brescia. Following a stay in Venice in 1709, he moved to Cremona, where he achieved considerable success as a painter of still lifes and trompe-l’oeil, receiving many commissions even from abroad. His painting is characterized by a “naturalism” typical of the Lombard school, enriched by Baroque-style decorative elements. His interior compositions feature fruits and flowers and are characterized by an abundance of richly embroidered fabrics. Particularly characteristic of the painter are works featuring elegant carpets, sumptuous fabrics, and vibrant vases of flowers which, due to their inherent chromatic exuberance, compositional approach, and brushwork, allow for easy attribution, as in this case. Bibliography: See F. Arisi, Still Life between Milan and Parma in the Baroque Era, Piacenza 1995 A. Crispo, Antonio Gianlisi Junior, in Still Life in Emilia and Romagna, Milan 2000, pp. 187–193 G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, “Noble Collecting in Crema: A Channel of Influences Flowing Intensely from the Gianlisi to the Desti Family,” in *Giacomo Desti. An Eclectic Painter in Eighteenth-Century Crema. With contributions by Gianluca and Ulisse Bocchi on the Gianlisi still lifes, edited by L. Carubelli, Crema 2009, pp. 207–211.