1631 - FRANCESCA VOLO' SMILLER, KNOWN AS VICENZINA

FRANCESCA VOLO' SMILLER, KNOWN AS VICENZINA (from the series) Still Lifes with Flowers Pair of oil-on-canvas paintings, 44x58 cm The two lavish floral compositions are arranged with a deliberate sense of spontaneity: the two bouquets overflow and cascade to the ground, creating a whole distinguished by its elegant structure, combined with the freshness and brilliance of the colors. The soft, nuanced application of color and the parallels with 17th-century Lombard painting allow us to attribute the work to the circle of the Milanese painter Francesca Volò Smiller, known as Vincenzina (Milan, 1657 –1700), a refined specialist in this genre and an important member of the largest and most prolific family of 17th-century Milanese painters. Francesca’s painting is characterized by high technical quality and by her depiction of flowers through an intense and heartfelt naturalism, featuring predominantly tart and cool colors enlivened by touches of deep red and illuminated by the skillful use of white; Francesca arranges cut flowers outdoors with great compositional freedom, their sparkling colors—particularly pink, white, and yellow—emerging from the dark background. Bibliography: See Gianluca and Ulisse Bocchi, *Margherita Caffi and the Vicenzini Studio*, Parma 2023.