![]() They emerge from the darkness into a radiant light that illuminates every circumference, wrinkle and ragged edge in exquisite detail.Īlbrecht Dürer, the great German artist from Nuremberg, made many tonal studies of heads, hands and drapery as preparatory sketches for his paintings. We know this as the same objects are repeated identically in other works. They have been meticulously painted from individual studio studies to maximize their realism. They have been mathematically arranged in a hyperbolic curve to add some ingenuity to their composition. Every element is geared to a visual appreciation of the objects: The painting is simply a virtuoso demonstration of the Cotan's ability to imitate reality in spellbinding detail. There is no symbolic message in this work. The framework of their background is a 'cantarero', a 17th century larder cut from the cold stone wall where the produce is hung from strings to prevent it from spoiling. Cotan's fruits and vegetables gently emerge from the darkness into bright sunlight, emphasizing their strikingly naturalistic detail. Juan Sanchez Cotan's 'Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber' reverses the tonal contrasts of Caravaggio's still life: dark objects against a light background have now become light objects against a dark background.
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