Spanish school; 17th century and later.

Spanish school; 17th century and later.
"Still life".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents faults in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 36.5 x 46 cm; 46.5 x 56.5 cm (frame).
We are before a sober and exquisite still life that represents a simple fruit bowl with lemons, work that is clearly inscribed in the stylistic orbit of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), one of the great masters of the Spanish Golden Age. Although of anonymous authorship, this painting reveals a profound understanding of the compositional, luminous and symbolic principles that characterize the still lifes of the master from Extremadura.
The scene unfolds on a table with a smooth surface, without ornaments, in front of a neutral background, generally dark, which cancels any concrete spatial reference. On the table is a modest fruit bowl containing thick-skinned yellow lemons, arranged with meticulous formal economy. The artist has avoided any exuberance in the arrangement, concentrating attention on the materiality of the objects and their silent presence.
The light, which comes from a single lateral spotlight, models with sculptural clarity the volumes of the fruit and casts deep shadows, generating an atmosphere of recollection and stillness.
This type of composition, a direct heir of Zurbarán's visual asceticism, not only has an aesthetic value, but also a symbolic one. In their sobriety, these still lifes convey a restrained spirituality, in tune with the counter-reformist thought and inner religiosity of the Spanish 17th century. In Zurbaran's universe, everyday objects acquire an almost sacred dignity: they are not mere decorative elements, but metaphors of the transcendent, silent signs of a superior and eternal beauty.