Still Life with Limes, Oranges, Acerola and Watermelon, Luis Egidio Meléndez
Link is to Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Just another amazing still life by 18th century Spanish master Luis Egidio Meléndez. As is often the case, his superb command of value and texture steals the show.
See my previous posts of Meléndez still lifes for more.
I really appreciate all your entries on Luis Melendez. In fact, the first time I saw his work was on this website and it totally blew me away. I study still life painting at one of New York’s classical ateliers, where they tend to favor the Dutch still life and Chardin, but nobody paints like Melendez…nobody. Melendez is a little weird, no?
I asked a contemporary still life painter what was his secret and he told me that it isn’t just the intense lighting against dark backgrounds or the value range or the almost scientific attention to detail, it’s the perspective.
He observed that in order to create these dense compositions, you would need a really broad table, loaded with lots of objects. You have to stand somewhat far away and visually “telephoto” the image creating this strange flattening of the whole scene. I haven’t tried this technique yet; it seems incredibly difficult.
Thanks, Elona. That’s an interesting suggestion about the perspective in Melendez still lifes. I should look into that. Yes, he does seem unique.
Other still life painters that don’t get enough attention include Emil Carlsen, and painters not always thought of as still life painters, like William Merritt Chase, end even Vermeer.
