Octavianus Monfort Lot n° 2102

Octavianus Monfort Cherries, pears, apricots with other fruits and flowers in a blue and white porcelain bowl. Tempera on vellum. 40.5 x 53 cm. Expert opinion Dott. Arabella Cifani. Provenance Château de Kerbastic (South of France), Lanvin-Polignac Collection. - Italian private collection. For a long time, the name of Octavianus Monfort could only be associated with a few signed miniatures. With the discovery of his death certificate and a document attesting to an annual payment from Christina of France, Duchess of Savoy (1606-1663) in 1646 ("vassallo Ottaviano Monforte fatto studio della miniatura e fatto profitto non mediocre in quella, riceverà per tale motivo una pensione annuale di 1200 lire d'argento"), Dr. Cifani was able to prove the artist's many years of activity for the Turin court in 1990. Monfort was active in Turin for about five decades and produced a large number of floral and fruit still lifes, all of which are distinguished by a distinctive style. The high quality of execution, the balanced composition and the pale palette are typical of the artist, who plays with the soft nuances of fruits and flowers in a very characteristic way. Dr. Cifani describes the present parchment as a fine example of the artist's work and compares the composition and choice of subjects with other gouaches by Monfort, such as a parchment in a private Roman collection and a still life in Castello di Settime. The clear references of this work to Giovanna Garzoni lead the expert to date the sheet to the years 1660 to 1670.