Still Life with Grapes, Figs, Ceramic Plates, and a Copper Pot

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.52.9.176

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. 209.

Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño, La pintura español fuera de españa (Madrid: 1958), cat. no. 1782.

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. 15.

Eleanor Tufts, "Luis Melendéz, 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. 59.

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) 224.

Luis Melendéz: Spanish Still-Life Painter of the Eighteenth Century: Spanish Still-Life Paintings from the Permanent Collection (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1985), (brochure), illus. cover.

Eleanor Tufts, Luis Melendéz: Eighteenth-Century Master of the Spanish Still-Life, with a Catalogue Raisonné (Columbia, MO, University of Missouri Press, 1985), 106, illus. pl. 86.

Edward J. Sullivan, Catalogue of Spanish Paintings (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1986), cat. no. 15, illus. (b-w) 50, 51 (pre-conservation), illus. (color) title page and detail (color) cover.

"Spanish Paintings Catalogue Published," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1986-87), illus. (b-w) 18.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 214.

David Steel, entry for Still Life with Grapes and Figs, 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) 158, detail (color) 152.

M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA:The Journal of the American Medical Association 288, no. 6 (August 14, 2002), discussed 673, illus. (color) 667, 673, and cover.

Dalí and the Spanish Baroque (exhibition catalogue) (St. Petersburg, FL: Salvador Dalí Museum, 2006), cat. no. 44, discussed and illus. (color) 64.

Peter Cherry, Luis Meléndez: Still-Life Painter (Madrid: Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispánico, 2006), cat. no. 86, illus. (color), 466, listed 541-542.

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 76, 78, illus. (color and b-w) 77-79.

David Steel, entry for Still Life with Grapes, Figs, and a Copper Kettle, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 322, illus. (color) 323.
Exhibition HistoryMadrid, Spain, Sociedad de Amigos del Arte, “Floreros y bodegones en la pintura española,” 1935, cat. no. 83.

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, TX, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, March 22-May 19, 1985; New York, NY, National Academy of Design, May 30-September 1, 1985, cat. no. 29 [illus.: p. 111 and cover].

St. Petersburg, FL, Salvador Dalí Museum, "Dalí and the Spanish Baroque," February 2-June 24, 2007, cat. no 64, discussed and illus. (color) 64.

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).

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