Michele Antonio Rapos (Turin 1733-1819), Still Life of Flowers and Fruit Oil on canvas; without frame: 82 x 106 cm Price: private negotiation Object accompanied by our certificate of authenticity. This valuable painting, presented within an 18th-century style carved and gilded frame, depicts a composition of flowers and fruit set in a garden. On some stone steps are depicted silver vases and cups filled with fresh and soft flowers and fruit, including white and black grapes, peaches, and an open melon in the foreground on the right. In the background, an urn vase is decorated with bas-reliefs with scenes of classical taste. The pyramidal composition of the still life, rendered masterfully in the chromatic choice, saturated and brilliant, emerges from a dark background in which some vine leaves can be seen. The work is attributed to the illustrious Piedmontese still life painter Michele Antonio Rapos (or Rapous as it is more traditionally written), certainly the best still life author in Piedmont between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Highly appreciated by the Savoy court and the local nobility, the artist is present in the main court residences and in numerous private palaces and castles throughout Piedmont. Michele Antonio Rapos was born in Turin in 1733 and died there in 1819. Brother of Vittorio Amedeo, also an important court painter, he specialized in the genre of still life, enjoying success at the Savoy court, from which he received commissions for the Reggia di Venaria Reale, Stupinigi, and the Royal Palace of Turin. Rapos's still lifes possess particular characteristics that make them easily identifiable, including the type of flowers depicted, the meticulous rendering of details, the present vases, and the theatricality of the presentation. The painter interprets the Piedmontese Rococo taste with grace and decorative lightness, demonstrating knowledge of the French still life painters of the eighteenth century. Please note that the work was relined in the early years of the 20th century.