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Evaristo Baschenis (1617 – Bergamo – 1677) A still life with musical instruments signed on the edge of the spinet: EVARISTUS BASCHENIS P. Provenance: Literature: Exhibited:
By Irina Oryshkevich This still life belongs among the best and most representative works of the Bergamese master, Evaristo Baschenis. In it a heavy brocaded curtain has been pulled back to reveal a conglomeration of musical instruments and books lying in careless abandon atop a crimson damask tablecloth. The objects, though haphazardly balanced, have been abandoned for a quite a while as is evident from the fine layer of dust on the spinet and the curled pages of the musical scores. The stillness of the scene, intensified by the sharp contours and dramatic chiaroscuro, is counteracted by the anticipated crash of the pile's seemingly imminent collapse. The warm tonalities of the instruments, which absorb the rich red of the fabric, permeate the painting with an intimate glow. The light streaming from the upper right corner reflects from the polished curved surfaces of the inlaid lute and guitar while accentuating the creamy, sensuously curved pages lying atop and below the spinet. Although the items seem randomly dispersed, they are, in fact, meticulously arranged to fan out from a single point behind the foreshortened lute, as if from its neck. Rounded surfaces are carefully balanced against geometric edges, while brightly illuminated ones stand in sharp contrast to the somber shadows. Running parallel to the picture's base, the hem of the tablecloth is interrupted by a fold in the precise center of the composition – a subtle detail that breaks the monotony of the damask pattern and the long horizontal of the table's edge. The tasseled, cascading curtain balances the pile of objects to its left, adding a touch of theatricality in its disclosure of the lingering mementos of a concert long over. This evocative still life, which has been dated by Bertelli to the 1660s, displays Baschenis' innovative approach to the genre. Imported to Italy from Flanders and Spain in the early seventeenth century, early still lives generally bore some type of moral message concerning the ephemeral nature of sensuous gratification and luxury goods. For this reason they often contain numerous conventional references to the passage of time and the vanity of worldly pleasures: hourglasses and timepieces, snuffed candles and human skulls, yellowed books and chipped statuary, wilted bouquets and decaying delicacies – jumbled together in haphazard disarray. Baschenis' still life conveys a similar message but in a more sophisticated manner. The exquisitely crafted instruments do allude to the theme of vanitas in as much as they remind us of the brief duration of music's beauty. The dust on the spinet too refers to the passage of time and the decrepitude of age. Yet although the still life warns us of the danger of transient pleasure, its eerie silence also makes us long for the lovely sound of the instruments. Thus, like Vermeer's contemporary pictures, it subtly reconfirms the age-old view of music as the antidote to melancholy. On the other hand, the fact that the instruments are immortalized in paint hints at the more enduring value of the visual arts, which, unlike music, can immobilize time. Likewise the fingerprints on the spinet – a frequent conceit in Baschenis' paintings – reveal to us not only the passage of time but also the artist's skill at trompe l'oeil, for we are tempted to brush the surface with the tips of our own fingers to see whether the dust is real or painted. Baschenis, who specialized in still lifes of musical instruments, spent his entire life in Bergamo. Although born too late to have studied with Caravaggio, his expert use of chiaroscuro and avoidance of conventional symbolism owe much to the renowned Lombard master. An ordained priest, Baschenis no doubt paid periodic visits to Rome where he could have seen Caravaggio's paintings in the Giustiniani collection. His interest in fine musical instruments and their makers (here attested by his inclusion of the monogram [M + H] of the sixteenth-century German manufacturer, Michael Hartung on the mandolin) raises the possibility that he may have personally known the violin-maker Nicolo Amati, teacher of Stradivari and Guarneri. Although neglected in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Baschenis was highly regarded in his own day as is evident from his large studio and a poem written in his honor in 1675 noting that his works were already in princely collections in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Turin. Rediscovered in the early twentieth century, Baschenis was described by Roberto Longhi as "a Vermeer languishing in the provinces." This large, impressive painting was first recorded in 1912 as being in the collection of Count Francesco Moroni, a wealthy Bergamese landowner and silk merchant, for whom a sumptuous residence, the so-called Palazzo di Porta Dipinta, was built in 1646. An early inventory of the Count's collection lists works by Moretto, Bassano, Andrea Previtali, il Bourgognone, and Bernardino Luini, as well as two still lifes with musical instruments, of which one presumably was the painting here. An amateur actor who appeared in a local theatrical production, L'Ercole effeminato, set to music by Maurizio Cazzati, Moroni may well have had a particular fondness for paintings that related to the performing arts. Two smaller autograph versions of the work are preserved in private Italian collections in Bergamo and Monza. |