GIOVANNI PAOLO CASTELLI, DIT LO SPADINO (Rome,... Lot n° 26

DEAD NATURE WITH WHITE RABBIT, PASTRADE AND MEDICAL VASE Rome or Florence, circa 1700 Oil on canvas 136 x 100 cm Giovanni Paolo Castelli comes from a family of still life painters. Born in Rome in 1659, Lo Spadino completed his apprenticeship with his older brother Bartolomeo. Influenced by the Flemish masters who created sumptuous still lifes of flowers and fruit (notably Abraham Brueghel), he developed his own style, a very theatrical Baroque style in which nature is represented with vivid colours in order to give life to masterful paintings. He is then considered by critics as one of the most important still life painters of the late 17th century. The detailed treatment of certain distinctive elements can be found in several of his other works, notably the delicate treatment of the features of the watermelon and the garden (fig. 1) and the natural treatment of the rabbit (fig. 2).