1230 - Francesco Fieravino, gen. Il Cavalier Maltese

Francesco Fieravino, gen. Il Cavalier Maltese Francesco Fieravino, called Il Cavalier Maltese Still life featuring a statue, a marble relief and silver tableware on a marble ledge covered with a red carpet Oil on canvas. 90.5 x 152.5 cm. Provenance Private collection, Italy. Set in a dark interior, various collectables and memorabilia are displayed on a coloured, patterned rug, which dominates the scene. Diverse flowers in a vase counterpoint the composition. The work has been traditionally ascribed to the hand of Fieravino, called 'Il Maltese', a still-life painter active in Rome during the XVII century, who perfectly embodied the opulent baroque taste for prunk still life. Little has been established about the artist, but his lavish compositions were influential on Italian still-life painters such as Bartolomeo Bettera and Guiseppe Recco, and beyond Italy.