Italian school; second third of the seventeenth century. "Still life with plum and grapes". Oil on canvas. Measurements: 59 x 46,5 cm. In this work highlights the great illusionism that the author achieves not only through the still life which is structured in two planes, but thanks to the use of the base. For this purpose, he arranges a table with a single profile in which a door can be glimpsed, and on the tabletop a rich red velvet fabric that folds sinuously over the wooden furniture. As for the still life, few elements compose it, grapes and plums in the lower area and at the top in a shiny container that can only be seen due to the reflection on the material, you can see a set of pears still with the branch. The scene is wrapped in a black background, which intensifies the presence of the fruits and brings a great expressiveness to highlight the qualities of each of the elements that make up the scene. The work may remind to a great extent to many of the pieces of Francesco Noletti, known as il Maltese (Valletta? c. 1611-Rome, 1654), although he was born in Malta, his first known work is referenced in Rome during the time of Pope Alexander VII; painting still lifes with Pietro Cesarini. He is first mentioned in the inventories of the Barberini family, between 1631 and 1636, as the creator of "six oil papers with various flowers". In the absence of signed works, two etchings published in 1703 by Jacobus Coelemans served as a basis for establishing his style. It has been attested that, from 1642, he had settled permanently in Rome; first on the Via Margutta, then on the Via Laurina, where he worked with Andrea Sacchi His death certificate of 1654 describes him as a "famous painter "His works were much sought after during his lifetime, but he was soon forgotten after his death. Joshua Reynolds mentioned him briefly in his Catalogue of Famous Painters, as a "painter of vases, instruments, carpets and still lifes." Dimensions 59 x 46,5 cm.