Vase of Flowers

A metal vase decorated with figures of cherubs stands alone against a deep brown background, struck by a beam of light that lifts the bouquet of flowers from out of the shadows. This painting bears witness
to the rise of flower painting in the Baroque period, when this genre, considered minor in academic hierarchies, began to enjoy great success in the halls of the European picture galleries. In this painting, the manner of the composition illustrates that the painter of this canvas and its pendant is clearly one of the great interpreters of floral still life in Baroque Rome, namely Mario Nuzzi, known as Mario
dei Fiori. We still do not know how his two Vases of Flowers came to be at Lake Como. Perhaps it was through the dealings with Rome engaged in by many families from Como in the 17th and 18th centuries, or, as has been suggested, due to the passion for genre painting of the banker of Como origin, Giovanni Antonio Parravicini, who had worked many years in Rome. (P. Vanoli)