Description

Gabriel De La Corte (Madrid, 1648 – Madrid, 1694)

Still life with grapes, peaches, figs and carnations.
Oil painting on canvas.

Gabriel De La Corte is a fascinating late seventeenth-century painter of whom little or nothing is known. The few contemporary sources that mention his life inform us that he was the son of the Spanish painter Francisco de la Corte, who was in turn the brother of Juan de la Corte, one of the few known pupils of Velazquez. According to sources Gabriel, despite being a son of art, had no teacher, as his father died when he was just twelve years old.
As self-taught he devoted himself exclusively to still lifes of flowers and fruits, which he always executed with great skill; despite his ability, however, he never managed to have much success, nor important assignments. This is certainly one of the reasons why we have little information about his business. He was certainly a painter slightly “ahead” of his time: unfortunately the genre of still life with flowers and fruits will have a notable collection success especially in the eighteenth century.
His style is recognizable thanks to the great variety of staged elements and the taste for the dark background, which almost engulfs the flowers and fruits in the foreground. In this case, the composition is full of elements: the synthetic landscape with a waterfall in the background on the right is contrasted by the set of grapes placed on the left, rendered with absolute brilliance and vitality.

Bibl.: Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco El Parnaso Español Pintoresco Laureado.

Our reference: A04497