Fede Galizia’s A Glass Compote With Peaches Leads Master Paintings

Fede Galicia’s A glass of compote with peaches, jasmine flowers quinces and grasshopper  (estimate $2–3 million) is a beautiful example of the revolutionary female artist’s contributions to the Italian still life genre, which she helped to invent in the early 17th century.

Fede Galizia (Milan 1578-1630), A glass compote with peaches, jasmine flowers, quinces and a grasshopper

Exhibited internationally, the work was described as one of Galizia’s finest paintings in the second edition of Flavio Caroli’s definitive monograph of the artist’s work, A glass compote with peaches. Despite the intimate size of the panel, Galizia has created a sense of monumental scale with her placement of objects. Her close observation of details – such as the softness of the peaches, the modulations in the green on the leaves, and even the stripes on the grasshopper’s abdomen – continues to enchant viewers today.

Daughter of the miniaturist and painter, Nunzio Galizia, Fede (c. 1578–1630) trained under her father. Her precocious talent was already on full display as a young teenager, and by the age of 20, she had achieved international renown as a painter of portraits and devotional compositions. Like Clara Peeters (c. 1589–1657) in the Netherlands, Fede was one of a small number of female artists who would play a vital role in the emergence of the relatively new genre of still life. Although she produced fewer than 20 refined, naturalistic still life compositions on panel, these works inspired followers in her lifetime and are considered her most important paintings.

Fede Galizia (Milan 1578-1630) 
A glass compote with peaches, jasmine flowers, quinces and a grasshopper
oil on panel 

12 x 16¾ in. (30.5 x 42.5 cm.) 

Estimate:  USD 2,000,000 - USD 3,000,000

Master Paintings Evenins Sale at Sotheby's

30 January 2018