DELLA VECCHIA, PIETRO

SCENE OF MAGIC

Despite the use of grotesque colours intrinsic to the work of this artist, pictures of this kind can be traced back to 16th-century traditions of painting – to Giorgione and Titian, whose works Pietro della Vecchia frequently imitated, earning his living in this way in the early years. In the Moscow painting what attracts attention in particular is the exquisitely executed still-life motif – black cocks with red combs lying on a table and with their legs tied together. Details of such a kind are only rarely found in the works of this artist. The motif serves to indicate that the scene depicted is linked with fortune-telling or black magic.

Provenance: acquired in 1983 from V.L.Menshikov (Moscow).