Still Life with Dog and Fruit

Cristoforo Monari produced grandly scaled paintings depicting a wealth of precious objects from near and far. Well-suited to the elegant apartments of his patrons, the canvases decorated living spaces along with other fine objects meant to attest to the owner’s affluence and social status. This example illustrates the market demand for paintings juxtaposing natural elements with objects from distant locations and cultures: oranges and lemons from the Mediterranean, porcelain from China, Netherlandish replications of blue and white vessels of the Far East, rust-colored pottery from Mexico or the Iberian Peninsula. A single still-life could function in the place of several objects. The collection of those objects in paint reflected the owner’s appetite for refined and worldly items. Gazing sleepily from under the table, the dog invites the viewer to partake in the food and wine, which delight the senses though their skillful rendering.