Silent LivesFrancisco de Zurbarán
Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose
Oil on canvas, 62.2 x 109.5 cm
Norton Simon Museum, Los Angeles, F.1972.06.P

Still life as a genre emerged in the late 16th century, in Spain and more specifically in Toledo, where Blas del Prado achieved a certain success with depictions of fruits, described as ‘very well painted’ by the painter and theorist Francisco Pacheco. Production expanded throughout the 17th century, characterised by simple compositions against a plain background. Spatial depth is created by the arrangement of lighting and the painting’s various elements. The very subject of these works consists of the faithful depiction of natural elements such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and ceramic or metal vessels.

These bodegones, however, constituted only part of the activity of artists of whom posterity has retained only these paintings, such as Juan Sánchez Cotán or Juan Van der Hamen. Some of these works were used as models, inserted in works considered more ambitious, such as religious subjects or historical scenes. Each element of the composition could be utilised independently. Thus, the cup in Still Life with Lemons constitutes the sole subject of a little painting held by the National Gallery in London.

Still Life with Lemons is the only still life Francisco de Zurbarán signed and dated. On a waxed wooden table are arranged four lemons on a tin plate, a basket with oranges, topped with orange blossoms and foliage, a white porcelain cup full of water, with a saucer on which a rose is set. The light, falling from the left corner on these geometrically-arranged elements, creates a play of contrasts and highlights that give them substance. The virtuosic rendering of textures, from the grainy peel of the lemons to the gloss of the metal, renders tangible the materiality of the objects presented for our contemplation.
 

The popularity of bodegones, the Spanish name given to kitchen still lifes, grew continuously over the 17th century, leading some artists to specialise in the production of paintings meant for a rapidly expanding market. This seems to have been the case for Zurbarán’s son, Juan, trained in his father’s studio. Some twenty works are attributed to him: all are still lifes.
To attract a broad clientele, subjects were diversified, including innovations like a chocolate service, which Juan seems to have been the first to depict, or imported articles such as Chinese porcelains.