Bonaventura Bettera (1663 - 1718 post)

Bonaventura Bettera (1663-1718 posts)

Still life with musical instruments, sheet music and carpet

Oil on canvas, cm 85 x 110

With frame, cm 111 x 138

The painting that we can see here is in full configuration in the Bergamasque tradition of musical subject still life, which from Evaristo Baschenis (1617 -1677), true creator of the genre, was transmitted to other painters of Bergamo, including the contemporary Bartolomeo Bettera (1639- post 1688) and the son of the latter Bonaventure (1663- post 1718), to whom this work can be assigned. Going beyond the subject, we can already deduce the distinctive traits that made evolve into a more sumptuous, contrastive and opulent dimension the still lifes created by Bartolomeo first and by Bonaventura later, born and raised in Bergamo; The family had origins that can be found in the centres of the Val Seriana, particularly in Gandino and in the homonymous valley, thus coming into contact with the production of Baschenis. If Bartholomew traveled first to Rome and then to Milan in 1687, where he stayed until his death, probably at the end of the century, little is known about the biography of Bonaventura, although the works attributed to his hand are found mainly in Lombardy and especially Bergamo, thus leaving a zone of activity still linked to the land of origin. Although the tangencies with Baschenis are evident in the subject, in the layout and in the sense of realism, the Bettera will distinguish himself by elaborating compositions characterized by a greater concentration of objects, almost always referring to the musical field, by a magnificence that can be well observed in the preciousness of the embroidery of carpets and curtains, shiny and bright colors, and a more overcrowded arrangement and characterized by more daring perspective views of the elements, Stacked in an opulent and weighted disorder that creates a kind of pile at the center of the composition. These traits, derived from the works of his father, are clearly revealed, as can be seen in the virtuosic perspectives of lutes and violins and the use of precious blue and gold tones of curtains and carpets, bright, vibrant and contrasting with the environment in penumbra by more muted colors; also you can see typical features of his compositions such as partial opening and discomposed of the curtain, the pile of objects, the apparent disorder on the table, revealed by the scrunched scores, the misaligned and overlapping instruments and the submerged books below, among which one is found written on the back Tasso, possibly referring to Torquato Tasso, author of the famous liberated Jerusalem, whose family belonged to the ancient Bergamo nobility and was therefore linked to the same territory where the Bettera operated. If the series of works by Father Bartholomew, often signed, is a more substantial and certain catalogue, those of Bonaventura are extremely rare and difficult to locate; two of his certain works are on display at the State Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin, in Moscow, and reveal in the protruding texture of the canvas in the parts of the carpets, a distinctive trait compared to Bartolomeo, which we also find in our work. Several others have passed on the antique market or are found in private collections and in many of these you find this peculiar detail, which is then added to a more homogeneous and opaque use of light and a particular taste for cold shades, such as blue and blue, Also used in this canvas.

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