Still Life with Pigeons, Lemon, Tomato, Spice Packets and Kitchen Vessels

Artist Luis Egidio Meléndez Spanish, b. Naples, 1716–d. Madrid, 1780

Datecirca 1770

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions14 9/16 x 19 3/8 in. (37 x 49.2 cm)
Frame: 18 3/8 x 23 in. (46.7 x 58.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)

Object numberG.52.9.177

On View

On view

Provenance"Sons of Santiago Pierrad," Madrid; with Newhouse Galleries, New York; sold to NCMA, 1952.
Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 210, illus. (b-w).

Fetes de la Palette: An Exhibition of European Paintings and Decorative Arts from the mid-16th century through the mid-eighteenth century. Dedicated to the 'Delights of the Bountiful Table (exhibition catalogue) (New Orleans: Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, 1962), cat. no. 42.

Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño, La pintura español fuera de españa (Madrid: 1958), cat. no. 1783.

Robert F. Phifer Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1973) 52, illus. (b-w) 53.

The Chosen Object: European and American Still Life (exhibition catalogue) (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1977), illus. fig. 14.

Luis Melendez: Bodegonista español del siglo XVIII (Madrid: Prado Museum, 1982), illus. 34.

Eleanor Tufts, "Luis Meléndez, Still-Life Painter 'San Pareil'," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6, C (November 1982), 165, illus.

Anthony Kerrigan, "El neuvo museo de Carolina del Norte y su collección de pinturas españolas," Goya, 13, pp. 56-60, illus. 58.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 225.

Eleanor Tufts and Juan J. Luna, Luis Melendéz: Spanish Still-Life Painter of the Eighteenth Century (exhibition catalog) (Dallas: Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, ca. 1985), cat. no. 29, illus. 111 and cover.

Eleanor Tufts, Luis Meléndez: Eighteenth-Century Master of the Spanish Still-Life, with a Catalogue Raisonné (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1985), 106-107, illus. pl. 87.

Edward J. Sullivan, Catalogue of Spanish Paintings (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1986), cat. no. 16, illus. (b-w) 53 and (color) viii, also illus (b-w) 52 (before conservation).

Jean K. Cadogan, ed., Wadsworth Atheneum Paintings II: Italy and Spain - Fourteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. Spanish Paintings, George Kubler and Craig Felton, eds. (Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1991), 301, footnote 1 on 301, illus. 300.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 215.

Jan Grimsley, "Walk Through Birdland," in The Store of Joys, Huston Paschal, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1997), 34-37, illus. (color) 34.

David Steel, entry for Still Life with Pigeons, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 153, 158, illus. (color) 159.

M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 288, no. 20 (November 27, 2002), discussed 2510, illus. (color) 2510, 2501, and cover.

Bodo Vischer, Goyas Stillleben: Das Auge der Natur (Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2005), 54, illus. (color).

Peter Cherry, Luis Meléndez: Still-Life Painter (Madrid: Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispánico, 2006), cat. no. 87, illus. (color), 467, listed 542, mentioned 121, 150, illus. (b-w) 123, fig. 124 (before restoration).

Gretchen A. Hirschauer and Catherine A. Metzger, Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life (exhibition catalogue) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2009), cat. no. 8, discussed 92, 94, illus. (color and b-w) 92-95.

David Steel, entry for Still Life with Game, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 324, illus. (color) 325.

Jim Grimsley, "Walk through Birdland" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 138, 141 (detail).Exhibition HistoryMadrid, Sociedad de Amigos del Arte, "Floreros y bodegones en la pintura española," 1935, cat. no. 68.

Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Institute, "Still Life Painting since 1470," September 1956.

Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Art Museum, October 1956, cat. no. 38, illus.

New Orleans, LA, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, "Fetes de la Palette: An Exhibition of European Paintings and Decorative Arts from the mid-16th century through the mid-eighteenth century. Dedicated to the 'Delights of the Bountiful Table'." November 22, 1962-January 6, 1963, cat. no. 42, illus. pl. 18.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Robert F. Phifer Collection," March 31-May 13, 1973, 52, illus. (b-w) 53.

Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, "The Chosen Object: European and American Still Life," April 23-June 5, 1977, illus. fig. 14.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Luis Meléndez: Spanish Still-Life Painter of the Eighteenth Century," January 12-March 10, 1985; Dallas, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, March 22-May 19, 1985; New York, National Academy of Design, May 30-September 1, 1985, cat. no. 29, illus. 111 and cover.

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, "Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life," May 17-August 23, 2009; Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 23, 2009-January 3, 2010; Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, January 31-May 9, 2010, cat. no. 8, illus. (color).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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