Citrus and Peach Blossom
Agrumi e fiori di pesco (original Italian title)
Oranges, lemons and apples on a wooden table, flowering peach branches and two butterflies under a spring sky: a bright, serene still life.
- Artist
- Antonio Di Cristofaro
- Collection
- Still Life
- Medium
- Acrylic on canvas
- Availability
- Available for purchase
Limited edition
Canvas prints
Faithful reproductions of the work on canvas, numbered and hand-signed by the artist, with certificate. The edition is closed: once sold out, it will never be reprinted.
The format follows the proportions of the original. Price and delivery times on request; worldwide shipping.
A small feast of fruit is arranged on a dark wooden shelf: a glass fruit stand full of oranges, lemons and green apples, and around it more citrus fruit, some cut in half to show the red flesh of blood oranges and the translucent yellow of lemons. Green leaves and small pink flowers dot the composition.
The sky
The most original choice is the background: instead of the dark wall of traditional still lifes, a blue spring sky with light clouds. The still life moves outdoors and almost becomes a landscape. Flowering peach branches enter from the sides, and two butterflies appear — a yellow and black one above, a blue one resting beside the fruit.
The tradition
Still life with fruit is one of the best-loved genres of Italian painting, from Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit to the laden tables of seventeenth-century Naples. Here the tradition is lightened and refreshed: no drama of light and shadow, but a diffuse, serene luminosity, almost like a botanical illustration.
The symbols
In old still lifes every element had a meaning: fruit stood for abundance, flowers for passing beauty, the butterfly for the soul and rebirth. In this painting the symbols add up to a simple, luminous message: spring, life reborn, the joy of simple things.
The poem · original Italian
Natura viva
La chiamano natura morta, ma guarda: l’arancia si è aperta per mostrare il suo cuore rosso, il limone si sporge dall’alzata come un bambino curioso.
Il pesco ha allungato un ramo dentro il quadro, e una farfalla si è posata accanto alla frutta senza chiedere il permesso.
Niente qui è morto. Tutto aspetta soltanto la primavera.
