Still-Life of Flowers in a Woven Basket

Private collection

still-life

Gabriel de la Corte was one of the principal flower painters working in Madrid during the second half of the 17th century. His technique is markedly different from that of his contemporary Bartolomé Pérez and the older Juan de Arellano, for rather than adhering to the tradition of the great Flemish still-life painters in their precision of detail, his brushwork is at once more spirited and schematic.. Unlike Juan de Arellano and Bartolomé Pérez, De la Corte did not enjoy royal patronage at the court and as a result had to make a living selling his works in the shops of Madrid.

About the Artist

Gabriel de la Corte

1648 – 1694

Spanish painter. He was, together with Bartolomé Pérez, the most important painter of flowers in Madrid during the reign of Charles II (1665-1700). However, unlike his rival, it appears that De la Corte did not enjoy the distinction of royal patronage. His earliest biographer, Antonio Palomino, who could have known the artist in his later years, writes that he was reduced to earning his living by selling his works on the open market and that he died in poverty in 1694. He was a highly prolific artist, a fact that is reflected by the large numbers of flower paintings by his hand known today. Although his works were popular among collectors of his time, his evident facility in his chosen genre of painting may have led him to overproduce and undersell his works. In contrast to his unfortunate professional circumstances, his flower pieces are exuberant, effusive works that exemplify the important decorative role that flower paintings had assumed by the latter part of the 17th century.

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