Still-Life with Musical Instruments

1660 · Private collection

still-life

This still-life is a representative work of Evaristo Baschenis. It depicts a conglomeration of musical instruments and books lying in careless abandon atop a crimson damask tablecloth. The warm tonalities of the instruments, which absorb the rich red of the fabric, permeate the painting with an intimate glow.

About the Artist

Evaristo Baschenis

1617 – 1677

Italian painter, the most prominent of a family of artists recorded from 1400. He was ordained c. 1647 and painted a few religious subjects, but his fame rests chiefly on his beautifully poised and polished still-lifes of muscial instruments. His predilection for the subject may have been associated with the contemporary fame of the Amati family of violin-makers of Cremona, which is near to Baschenis's native town of Bergamo. The Accademia Carrara there has the best collection of his paintings.

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