Still Life with Fruit and Carnation and Hyacinths atop a Ledge

WOP 17-87
Still life with pomegranate, apple, peach, pears, plums and gourd; with carnation and hyacinths, resting atop a ledge. In a hand carved and gilded frame with antique glass.
Octavianus Monfort (Active in Turin in the second half of the seventeenth century)

Size: with frame: 11 ½” high x 12 ½” wide (29.2 x 31.7 cm.)
Without frame: 8” high x 9 ½” wide (20.4 x 24.2 cm.)

In 1646, Octavianus Monfort is first documented in Turin as having “studied miniatures and…profited by such” and as having received, from Christine of France, the widow of Victor Amadeus of Savoy, “a pension of livre mille duecento d’argento da soldi 20 l’una” (see F. Moretti and L. Cifani, Arte e artisti nel Piemonte del ‘600: Nuove scoperte e nuovi orientamenti, Cavallemmaggiore, 1990, pp. 16546). His only dated works are from the last decade of the seventeenth century, and, therefore, it is probable that the artist was active throughout the second half of the century. As it has always been known, Monfort’s art was strongly influenced by the Turinese work of Giovanna Garzoni, who was actively employed by the Savoy court from 1632 – 1637.