BLAS DE LEDESMA (Documented in Granada between 1602 and 161

Oil on canvas. Reference bibliography: - Torres Martin, R., Still life in Spanish painting, Barcelona, ​​1971; - Torres Martin, R., Blas de Ledesma and Spanish still life, Madrid, 1978; - Jordan, WB, Spanish still life in the golden age (1600 - 1650), Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1985. Provenance: - Private collection, Madrid. Little is known about the painter Blas de Ledesma, active in Granada between 1602 and 1614. Of his production, collected by Torres Martin in the 1970s, only the canvas conserved in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which represents a Basket of cherries with irises and lupine flowers, is signed. Artistic sources remember him with praise, such as Francisco Pacheco and Pedro Soto de Rojas, who praised his work as a still-life painter. This work brings together all the ingredients that define his output, such as symmetrical, simple, and orderly compositions, touched by a notable austerity; as well as a series of recurring formal elements such as the appearance of a large Delftware bowl occupying the central space, the mushrooms and quinces arranged on the table, and the pomegranates inside the container. Dimensions: 54 x 63.5 cm.