Hrag Vartanian

I admit I’m jagged but this masterpiece by the Spanish baroque master, Francisco de Zurbarán, stopped me in my boots. While I think Zurbarán’s figures are rather lame and manneristic, his still life paintings (this one in particularly, and the only one that is signed if I remember correctly from my college years) are orgasmic.

The colors are subdued and harmonious, the composition is geometrically perfect. Even the frame accentuates the composition. If I was reincarnated as a painting in my next life this would be it.

Only the basket veers towards the stylized, otherwise it is a breathe of pristine realism in an era not known for its clear observation of nature. Only Caravaggio can blow Zurbarán away for his clarity and freshness of naturalistic vision.