18th century painter Luis Egidio Meléndez was one of the greatest Spanish still life painters, and to my mind, one of the great still life painters of history, though he received little recognition in his own time.
His mastery of texture, light and composition elevated his subjects — fruit, melons, fish, game and Chardin-like kitchen implements — from the mundane to the sublime, much like Chardin himself.
Chardin was a contemporary of Meléndez, but whether one artist was aware of the other, I don’t know.
Like Chardin, Meléndez created a sense of quiet, intimate contemplation in his still life, conveying the meditative aspects of that magical transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary that is one of the great powers of art.
Unfortunately, the quality of the images of Meléndez’s work on the web varies, and is often not good. The best images i’ve found are on the Google Art Project, the Met and the Prado, Madrid. The latter is not that easy to search, but there is a page on Artclopedia that lists the 6 images and links to them. Click through twice for high-resolution versions.
There is a monograph, Luis Melendez: master of the Spanish Still Life, that appears to be out of print, but should be available used if you’re patient.
