Still-life painting flourished in Rome in the 1620s and 1630s, and Agostino Verrocchi was an especially skilled practitioner. For "Allegory of Summer, " he depicted an abundance of seasonal fruits—peaches, plums, cherries, raspberries, apricots, and tiny pears—along with artichokes, almonds, and hazelnuts, strewn on the stone table and piled in wicker baskets. Butterflies flutter in the dark background, while a slug can be spotted hidden in the fruit.
The feasting insects and pest, and drying leaves allude to the transience of life, ever present, even in this beautiful bounty of nature. Some elements of the still life 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.
