Giovanni Paolo Castelli (1659 - 1730)

Giovanni Paolo Castelli, called Lo Spadino, was active mainly in Rome. His favorite subject were fruit and floral still lifes. More than a dozen of his works are part of the collections of the Pinacoteca Civica Fortunato Duranti. His first painting instructor was his brother Bartolomeo, who also devoted himself primarily to painting floral still lifes. Between 1671 and 1674, he was a neighbor of Abraham Brueghel and it is possible that he also became his student. This pair of still lifes depicts a number of fruits, modelled with precise finesse, decanters and glasses with drinks. Both still lifes are set in an open landscape with woods and a scintillating bluish sky.