Attributed to Tommaso Salini, called Mao

With Duse Antiquariato, Brescia.

Turin, Fondazione Accorsi, L'incantesimo dei sensi: una collezione di nature morte del Seicento per il Museo Accorsi, 30 November 2005 - 1 May 2006, no. 5 (as attributed to Tommaso Salini). 

A. Cottino,  L'incantesimo dei sensi: una collezione di nature morte del Seicento per il Museo Accorsi, exhibition catalogue, Turin 2005, pp. 48-49, 101-102, cat. no. 5, reproduced.

The relining is firm and stable. Overall the paint surface has been very well preserved with nice impasto and lovely detail in the fruit, vegetables and fish. Examination under UV light reveals retouching around the four edges of the canvas. In addition, there is some retouching in the dark background at lower left, on the ledge and leaves at lower center, and a few in the upper background. The still life elements all look very good. This painting can be hung as is and presents a strong and very attractive image. In a painted black and parcel gilt wood frame.
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This sharply lit and detailed still life of fish, clams, and a basket of citrus fruit encapsulates the visual tradition prevalent in Rome in the first quarter of the seventeenth century.  With its heightened sense of realism and the dramatic balance of the effects of light and dark, this painting bears close stylistic similarities to a group of works ascribed to the hand of Tommaso Salini, an Italian artist known not only for his still-lifes, genre paintings, and religious scenes, but also as a witness in the lawsuit brought against Caravaggio by Giovanne Baglione.  The still-lifes ascribed to Salini are grouped around a Still Life of Fruit and Vegetables, which is signed and dated 1621 and is the only work of this genre firmly given to the artist.¹  Of this varied group, the present work stands out for its richness and quality.   1. See F. Zeri, La Natura Morta in Italia, Milan 1989, vol. II, p. 704, reproduced fig. 834.