Spanish School, 18th Century
Pomegranates and grapes in a wicker basket beside a bread roll on a table
oil on canvas
27 1/2 x 30 3/4in (69.9 x 78.2cm)
Footnotes:
Provenance
Sir John Brackenbury, British Consul in Seville, 1830;
Sir J. M. Brackenbury, London, 1848;
Lt. Col. William Sterling of Kier;
Sale, Sotheby's London, 3 July 1963, lot 67;
Paul Mellon, his sale, Christie's New York, 18 January 1984, lot 2 ($24,200);
Didier Aaron, New York, 1984.

Literature
Curtis, C. B. Velasquez and Murillo. 1833, p. 275, no. 409.
Stirling-Maxwell, Sir W. Annals of the Artists of Spain. Vol III, p. 1443.

The canvas has been glue lined. There is craquelure throughout. The varnish is uneven. There are numerous tiny losses scattered throughout the lower section of the composition and right side and background above the fruit. There are larger areas of losses which have been filled, mainly in the background of the upper and visible with the naked eye. There is some recognizable retouch to the basket and fruits. Under UV lamp; the above mentioned restoration does not fluoresce and there is some minor more recent retouch in the in the basket. There is an old opaque varnish that masks this older restoration.