Still-Life of Squash, Lilies, Peaches, and Pears

The drawings of fruits, vegetables and flowers, done in oil on prepared paper, are part of an extraordinary cache of drawings acquired by the Musei Civici of Milan in 1924 from the local church of Santa Maria presso San Celso. They were attributed to the workshop of Simone Peterzano, because many of the drawings in the group are demonstrably by him, and because in subject matter they seemed appropriate to the activity of the workshop. However, the more than two thousand five hundred drawings are enormously varied in style and date. Approximately one thousand have had a traditional association with Peterzano’s workshop. There is no direct evidence that this sheet came from that section comprised of work by Peterzano and his students.