George William Sartorius

GEORGE WILLIAM SARTORIUS (England, 1759 - 1828).
"Still life with fruit and birds".
Oil on canvas.
Signed.
Measurements: 80 x 110 cm; 90 x 118 cm (frame).

This canvas shows a still life of closed and balanced composition, with the objects arranged in an orderly manner, although with the typical pile-up of the baroque naturalism. It consists of bunches of grapes, peaches, melons, plums and pears, among others, arranged on a table typically baroque for its mixtilinear contour and a basket behind it. The bird taking flight and the branches at the top are fixed to the wall, with a blue side, the only cold colored spotlight in the entire painting, adorning the junction between the two sides of the branch. The fruits appear full, with very delicate shades of texture in the case of the peaches and a myriad of brightness and shades in that of the bunches, the latter loaded to the brim with grapes, showing the taste for the exuberant, for the fullness of forms, which is one of the aesthetic bases of the baroque.

Despite the great technical quality of his works and their valuation within the current art market, we have little biographical information about George William Sartorius. He was born in 1750 into a family of artists of German origin, coming from the city of Nuremberg and settled in England in the early eighteenth century. This family of artists obtained great recognition in England and specialized in the painting of animals, mainly horses and dogs, and by extension also in hunting scenes and horse races. George William was the son of Francis Sartorius The Elder (1734-1808) and twin brother of John Nott (1759-1828), both also painters, within the family style and subject matter. William focused on a different subject matter than his family, as would his nephew Francis Sartorius The Younger (ca. 1782-h. 1808), a marine painter, son of his brother John Nott. William Sartorius achieved great mastery in the subject of still life and animal painting (generally combining both subjects), developing a language of great realism and accentuated play of light and shadow, strongly contrasted, used to enhance the intensity of the volumes that emerge from dark backgrounds. He also painted some portraits. Sartorius exhibited his works at the Free Society of Artists in London between 1773 and 1779. Works by his hand are now held in the National Trust of the United Kingdom, as well as in numerous private collections in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and other countries.