Still life painting flourished in Rome in the 1620s and 30s, and Agostino Verrocchi was one of the city’s most skilled practitioners. For the Allegory of Autumn, there are lush red, green, and purples grapes, juicy pomegranates, ripened figs, a pair of squash, and a basket of red, green and yellow apples. Butterflies flutter in the dark background, while a slug and grasshopper can be spotted hidden in the fruit.
The tiny pests, drying leaves and worm-holed apple allude to the transience of life, ever present, even in this beautiful bounty of nature. Leaves and pieces of the fruit seem to fall over the edge of the stone table and cast stark shadows under an intense light. Verrocchi borrowed these illusionistic elements from Caravaggio, an artist fifteen years his senior, whose influence on still life painting endured in Rome long after his exile in 1606 and early death in 1610.
Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.
