# Still-Life with Musical Instruments and a Small Classical Statue [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BASCHENIS, Evaristo]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 86 x 115 cm ## Commentary Still-Life with Musical Instruments and a Small Classical Statue c. 1660 Oil on canvas, 86 x 115 cm Accademia Carrara, Bergamo Because he was in holy orders, Baschenis is sometimes referred to as Father Evaristo. The Bergamese Baschenis was, more than anything else, the perfect example of a "specialist" painter. In fact nearly all his oeuvre was dedicated to painting musical instruments, sometimes his pictures being finished by other painters who added figures \(as in the case of two paintings that have recently been found in the Brera in Milan\). From this specific point of view, Baschenis is one of the most fascinating and focused painters of the whole of the seventeenth century. His use of realism and light is reminiscent of Caravaggio. His canvases had an intense quality which was dominated by his exceptional technical ability \(one thing that stands out is the way in which he depicted dust on the back of stringed instruments\). But Baschenis' work never degenerated into a mere display of virtuoso talent. It was rather directed to convey a sense of almost severe moral purpose. Baschenis' success with still-life gave rise, especially in Bergamo itself, to a real fashion for the genre, with other painters following his example. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 2 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/16\_cent/milano\_lute.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Francesco da Milano: Tre fantasie for lute</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Agliardi Triptych \(central\)]() - [Agliardi Triptych \(left\)]() - [Agliardi Triptych \(right\)]() - [Boy with a Basket of Bread]() - [Kitchen Still-Life]() - [Musical Instruments]() - [Still-life with Instruments]() - [Still-Life with Musical Instruments in an Interior]() - [Still-life with Musical Instruments]() - [Still-Life with Musical Instruments]() - [Still-Life with Musical Instruments]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()