Still Life of Grapes, Nuts, Pears and a Bee in Louis XIII Frame

WOP 17-56
GIOVANNA GARZONI (Ascoli Piceno, Marche 1600-1670 Rome)
A still life of grapes, nuts, miniature pears and a bee,
In a superb Louis XV gilded wood frame

Size: With frame: 9 1/4" high x 11 1/2" wide (23 x 29 cm.)
Without frame: 5 ¼” high x 7 ¼” wide (13.3 x 29.2 cm.)
Giovanna Garzoni is probably the most famous Italian miniaturist of the seventeenth century. After her initial training in Venice at the school of Palma il Giovane, she traveled extensively and is known to have worked in Rome, Naples, at the court of the Spanish Viceroy, Turin at the court of the Savoia, Paris, and perhaps other Northern European capitals, and Florence at the court of the Medici. She became known throughout the Italian peninsula and beyond for her “many beautiful and precious efforts.” Garzoni’s loyal patrons, such as Cassiano dal Pozzo, Donna Anna Colonna Barberini, and the Duke of Alcalà, spread her fame. She was especially appreciated in Florence, where her pictures were so esteemed by the Florentine nobles and by the Grand Duke himself that she “sold them for whatever price she wished.” Indeed, upon returning to Rome, Garzoni died rich and famous in 1670, making the Accadèmia di San Luca her heir.