Northern Italian school; second half of the 17th century. "Still life with apricots, figs and grapes". Oil on canvas. It preserves the original canvas and it presents repainting, jumps in the painting, two perforations and extensions on the sides. Measurements: 86 x 100 cm. The author shows us a simple composition, based on the horizontality, presenting the main elements of the still life as a frieze. This characteristic makes the work easy to read. The still life is structured around a high-profile table, from which we can see part of its design. On it, peaches, figs and grapes are arranged in groups delimited by the type of fruit, as the foodstuffs are not mixed together. Finally, the work ends with a large curtain that frames the ochre-toned interior. The drapery provides a sense of theatricality and a certain dynamism that breaks with the hieratic structure of the table still life. The still life in Italy was one of the most characteristic genres and its special characteristics clearly distinguish it from the same subject in workshops in the rest of Europe. The term appeared at the end of the 16th century, and is notable in this school for its austerity, in clear contrast to Flemish sumptuousness, although with a number of influences from the latter. The Italian still-life school was highly appreciated within the antiquarian market, as well as among collectors and art historians, and the Neapolitan Baroque still-life school in particular enjoyed a spectacular development, leaving behind the splendour of the 16th century and progressing within a fully Baroque and clearly identifiable style. Artists such as Tommaso Realfonso, Nicola Casissa, Gaspare Lopez, Giacomo Nani and Baldassare de Caro continued the local tradition by specialising in the painting of flowers, fruit, fish and game, thus satisfying the demands of a vast clientele characterised by a new 17th-century taste. In addition to these artists, we must also add the minor figures who are slowly emerging from an unjust oblivion, and some artists who worked between the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Francesco della Questa, Aniello Ascione, Nicola Malinconico, Gaetano Cusati, Onofrio Loth, Elena and Nicola Maria Recco, Giuseppe Ruoppolo and Andrea Belvedere. Dimensions 86 x 100 cm.