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Master of the Palazzo S Gervasio
( fl ?c. 1620–1640s). Italian painter. His name derives from the location of the most important work attributed to him, the Still-life with Fruit, Flowers and a Dove in Flight (Venosa, Pal. S Gervasio), an opulent and decorative still-life featuring a rich display of fruits and flowers on a table draped with a brilliant red cloth. The naturalism of the objects and the quality of light on flowers, grapes and glass carafes indicate a familiarity with the still-lifes of Caravaggio and his Roman followers, while the ornamental and elaborate arrangement suggests a date in the 1620s. The frontal composition and the intensity of the observation hint at a connection with Spanish still-life. Various attempts have been made to identify the artist. Bottari’s attribution of the picture to Aniello Falcone, based on its similarity to the still-life details in that artist’s Concert and Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple (both Madrid, Prado), is not generally accepted. Causa attributed to the Master a group of still-lifes, including the Still-life with Pigeons and Game (Cremona, Mus. Civ. Ponzone), Still-life with Fruit (San Francisco, CA, de Young Mem. Mus.), Still-life with Grapes, Pomegranates, Figs and Butterfly and Still-life with Pigeons, Artichokes and Vase of Flowers (both Florence, Fraschetti priv. col., see 1984–5 exh. cat., p. 350), and also suggested that he may have collaborated with Falcone on the frescoes (1641–2) in the Firrao Chapel in S Paolo Maggiore, Naples. Marini proposed a possible identification with the Roman nobleman, Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (see CRESCENZI, (2)). The question of the Master’s identity remains unresolved.
Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family
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