Bartolomeo Bettera
Italian, 1639-1688 ca.
Still Life with Musical Instruments, 1680s
oil on canvas
46 × 62 in.
SBMA, Gift of Wright S. Ludington
1957.4.1
RESEARCH PAPER
Still life painting was a Dutch tradition that spread through Europe. The great age of still life painting in Italy, Holland, Flanders, Spain and France occurred during the 17th c. - the Age of the Baroque. During the last decade of the 16th c. still lifes, mostly flowers, became very popular in Europe. As the crossroads of the Renaissance, Italy played an important part in the exchange of ideas concerning this new genre of painting. Also at this time there were a number of Northern European artists in Rome who contributed greatly to this new genre of still life painting.
During the early 17th c. the Catholic church was the primary market for art. They had a growing demand for art to propagate their faith and to use as deterrent against the Protestant movement. Art was used as a representation of Biblical subjects and to show scenes from the lives of saints.
The Renaissance style of classical proportions gave way to the Baroque period of movement and direction. In comparison to the restful Renaissance, the Baroque was dramatic, passionate, brilliant and colorful. Artists became interested in filling space, creating depth and the passage of time.
It was during the 17th c. that everyday objects, which before had been only a small detail of a painting, became the subject themselves. Interestingly, many of the high ranking clergy had sizeable collections of still life paintings. It was the interest of these important collectors that helped to propagate the popularity of still life.
Very little specific information is available about Bartolomeo Bettera - including the exact dates of his life. However, Italy produced a still life, or "natura morta", specalist - Evaristo Baschenis, an ordained priest, and Bartolomeo Bettera was his most talented pupil. Baschenis had a bottega (workshop) in Bergamo in Northern Italy. Baschenis studied with the leading pre-Baroque painters, and by 1647 he had in his bottega a competent replicator of his designs by the anonymous initials of B.B.. Interestingly, this painting was originally credited to Baschenis.
Bartolomeo Bettera closely imitated Bachenis' style - Bettera's son Bonaventura was less effective in recreating the prototype. Baschenis kept a watchful eye over the repetitions of his prototypes. There were a huge number of pictures painted by Baschenis and under his supervision, many of the latter have been wrongly ascribed to him. When Baschenis died in 1677 the bottega was dissolved. Baschenis' most frequent theme was musical instruments, occasionally he painted cuisine (fowl, raw meat, fish, snails, vegetables or fruit), only the musical instruments were replicated.
During Baschenis' and Betteras lives and for generations after, Bergamo was the center for mass production of still life. The naturalism of the still life is reminiscence of Caravaggio - the subject matter of musical instruments is like that of the contemporary Dutch school.
Bettera spread a decorative, Late Baroque version of this style during the second half of the the 17th c. Bettera was greatly impressed by Francesco Fieravino or Maltese during the mid 17th c.. Maltese had a lavish style and used the motif of an oriental carpet to imply absolute luxury.
Italian still life painters viewed the subject matter in a detached way and simply recorded them on canvas. The northern painters, like Bettera were interested in the effect of light on the surfaces. They enjoyed creating a sensual luster on objects and wonderful texture. The silky texture and play of light on the wood of the instruments is beautiful. The texture of the carpet (probably created with some type of a mesh and many coats of paint - impasto) and that of the drapery is remarkable.
ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS:
Many of the instruments date back to the Renaissance (remember Baschenis studied with pre-Baroque artists)
1. The Clavichord - the case is hexagonal and the keyboard protrudes from the side. The clavichord was one of the most
popular instruments of the Baroque period. It's tone was quiet - which made it suitable only as a domestic solo instrument. It was replaced in the 18th c. with the piano.
2. Trumpet - a natural trumpet with no valves could play only high notes. It was difficult to play and required substantial
breath pressure from the player.
3. Violin - violin making began in Italy in the 16th c. Early violins had four strings, lateral pegs and F shaped sound holes.
4. Lute - Instruments similar to the lute were used as early as 20O BCE in Mesopotamia and 1500 BCE In Egypt. They appeared in Europe in the 1Oth c. By the 15th c. they were in widespread use as accompanying instruments and remained tremendously popular for the next 200 years. Lutes have been made with different numbers of strings. The
neck of the lute ends in a bent back peg box.
5. Chitarra battente - an Italian form of a guitar in the 17th and 18th c.. The body was deep. The strings were metal and played with a plectrum (a thin piece of metal).
6. Shawms — A double reed instrument made in different sizes. They were easy to blow and favorites for consort playing.
7. Colascione (long-necked lute) - popular in Italy in the 16th and 17th c.. It had a small, round-back body and a very long neck.
8. Viola — The viola is the alto member of the string family. Structually it is identical to the violin only a little larger -
about 3 inches longer. It has a mellow tone.
9. Zither — or some type of harp.
Baschenis had some knowledge of music, usually the scores that were a part of his still lifes were actual music for the instruments being represented. A well known composer of the early 17th c. was Monteverdi.
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Carol A. Spears, June 13, 1993.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Anderson, Lisélotte. Barggue And Rococo Art. New York. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1969.
Diagram Group. Musical Instruments of the World. New York. Facts on File. 1976.
Gash, John. Caravaggio. London: Bloomsbury Books. 1988.
Exhibition Catalog:
Italian still life painting from three centuries. National Academy of Design, New York. 1983. pp 10,11,15,16,71,82. (UCSB - ACE 43490)
Magazine:
The Art Bulletin: June 1975 - v. 57 n. 2. Milan, Gorlich Editore. 1971. (SBMA - N1A74)
A review of Baschenis, Bettera and Co. by Marco Rosci.
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
Although unsigned, this painting is unquestionably the work of Bettera. It closely resembles two signed still lifes with very similar subjects now in the collections of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston. The subject is typical of a classical "vanitas": an array of musical instruments whose silence alludes to the transience of mortal pleasures. The astounding verisimilitude is a hallmark of the artist, as are the depicted objects themselves. In fact, the ornate textile, whose woven texture has been painstakingly stamped into the paint, is the same one used by the artist in the Blaffer collection’s still life. This kind of realism probably reflects the influence of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), whose devotion to truthfulness to nature revolutionized painting in the Baroque era.
- Ludington Court Reopening, 2021