The expression "still life" was applied some time after the pictorial genre was created and developed. Around 1650, we find this denomination in Holland, although it shares other appellatives such as pictures of fruits, banquets and refreshments. Another widespread term was "stilleven" which, taken from the Dutch, means "model inert" or motionless nature. The German painter and art theorist Joachim von Sandrart referred to this pictorial genre, in 1675, as "things at rest". A century later, the term "still life" was coined in France.

In the statutes of the French Royal Academy, a hierarchy was established between the genres of painting and still lifes or still lifes appeared in the lowest rank compared to history painting, which occupied the first place. This consideration was very present in the seventeenth century and some painters, such as Caravaggio and the naturalists, rebelled against that status.

In the still lifes, the obsessive study of the objects and their material quality stand out, reproduced with enormous realism, meticulousness, and even preciosity. On many occasions, flowers and fruits were incorporated into the paintings called vanitas, indicating their transitory and expired character, like life, its pleasures and vanaglorias.

From Gothic naturalism to Renaissance garlands

Throughout the Romanesque period the vegetation was generally schematic subject and acanthus leaves had a great echo in the capitals of doorways and cloisters. In the Cistercian monasteries we find leaves of incipient naturalism and others of fully realistic appearance, as can be seen in the monastery of La Oliva. The arrival of the Gothic period brought with it the triumph of naturalism, which is clearly seen in the plant themes. Fig, ivy, holly, vine or oak leaves form a lively and realistic foliage with which capitals, friezes or archivolts are covered. The polychromy, in many cases, endorsed the naturalism of all that vegetal repertoire. For the representations of grapes and vines of this period and later centuries we refer to article published in this same newspaper on October 21, 2016.

The archivolts of the doorway of Santa María de Olite or the capitals of the cathedral of Pamplona are singular examples. The chestnut leaves had a special echo in the artistic manifestations of the time of Carlos III the Noble for being the motto of the monarch and thus we find them in monumental decoration and in the chalice that the king gave to the sanctuary of Ujué. To the munificence of the same monarch was due the addition of rooms in the castle of Tudela. Between 1388 and 1391, he employed there Christian and Moorish Navarrese artists and painters from other origins to achieve an outstanding atmosphere. The royal chamber was adorned with ten golden hanging apples, some of them accompanied by leaves. As is known, the apple was generally associated with sin, desire or carnal love, but it could also symbolize youth, rejuvenation and freshness, the latter meanings more in keeping with its location in the Tudela castle.

The XVI century would give place to garlands and strings of fruits to signify abundance. In a special way we find them surrounding heraldic coats of arms and tondos with portraits in grilles, doorways, cloisters, altarpieces and in pieces of gold and silver work and embroidery. As an example, we can point out the garland that surrounds the coat of arms of the Eguía family, in their house in Estella. The bracelets of the altarpiece of Isaba, work of Miguel Gárriz, were imposed in the appraisal of the work, in 1560, in order to gain proportion. Its decoration would incorporate, by recommendation of the appraisers, some "pendants of fruit leaves in the Roman style and the leaves well bulging".

Baroque painting

The pictorial still lifes that are preserved in Navarre in different private collections are, in general, works imported from Valencia or Madrid. Our painters only rarely confronted the natural model . Thus, we know that among the works of Juan de Landa (†1613), painter and king of arms, there were still lifes "of natural things".

Many more testimonies of still life objects are found in compositions of religious content. Beautiful trays with fruits are found in the Sagradas Familias de Recoletas de Pamplona and de Comendadoras de Puente la Reina (Miguel Jacinto Meléndez, 1722). Roses and lilies of excellent textures appear in the lower part of the Inmaculada Concepción de las Agustinas de San Pedro de Pamplona, work of Marcos de Aguilera (†1620). Brightly colored roses, lilies and lilies also appear in the Immaculate Conception by Diego González de la Vega (1677) of the Benedictines of Lumbier (today in Alzuza).

The lilies have a great place in the Annunciations, symbolizing Mary's purity. Chapter B includes the garlands of the second half of the 17th century, studied by M. Orbe, in which saints or religious scenes are placed. Among them, a Calvary by Jacobo de Palma the young in Recoletas de Pamplona, two canvases by Matías Guerrero in Araceli de Corella and some paintings from the circle and workshop of Vicente Berdusán deserve special mention: accredited specialization. To the latter belong the vases with flowers of the Annunciations of Tudela, Valtierra and Corella, as well as some sober sets of still life in the Transit of San José del Carmen de Tudela and the San José con el Niño de Villafranca, or the flowers that are scattered on the floor of the cell in the vision of the necklace of Santa Teresa of the Capuchinas of the same city.

Very beautiful and delicate bouquets and flower strings are found in the set of mock altarpieces of San Francisco de Viana, work of the second decade of the 18th century by Francisco del Plano, in the chapel of the Concepción de los Sartolo in San Jorge de Tudela, in the interior of the parish of Los Arcos (José Bravo, 1742) and in the cover of the chapel of the Virgen del Yugo in Arguedas, work of José Eleizegui (1728). The most spectacular vases of flowers are located in the front of the sotocoro of the parish of Los Arcos, work of José Bravo (1742-45) and in the cupola of the camarín of the Virgen del Romero in Cascante (1742), work of Ignacio Díaz del Valle, a painter born in Vitoria and established in the riverside town. Delicate vases can also be found in Rococo-era ensembles, such as the sacristy of San Cernin de Pamplona (1774).

In the scenographies of the altarpieces

Baroque altarpieces, authentic golden scenographies inhabited by angels and saints, are decorated with symbols of abundance in times of scarcity, of triumph in times of discord and post-war, and of glory to evoke the salvation of the soul. The cornucopias or horns of plenty will have a wide development.

Over time, various fruits so identified with the orchard of Tudela, became part of the ornamental repertoire of the artists of the workshops of the city. It is enough to contemplate the altarpiece of Dominicas de Tudela (1689), Caparroso (1691) or Recoletas de Pamplona (1700), all of them works of Francisco Gurrea y García, to contemplate artichokes, buds and thistle leaves of exquisite invoice. The contracts for the execution provide written testimonies. The term "buds" appears in numerous contracts. For the main altarpiece of Caparroso (1691), Gurrea was required that the six large salomónicas that articulate its great body be made "with their buds in stretches at the top of the turns, relieved and loose".

    If quality and naturalism were required in the carving, a fortiori the same was demanded in the polychrome contracts, since color provided the ultimate vision to the ensembles. The Aragonese Francisco del Plano was asked in the contract to gild the altarpiece of the Virgin of the Yugo, in 1684, "columns with golden fields and grapes and branches imitated to the natural".

Exquisite flowers appear in some altarpieces from the beginning of the 18th century, as in Lumbier, Virgen de Jerusalén de Artajona (1717) and Navascués (1723) (from Dominicos de Sangüesa), works by Pedro Onofre and his son-in-law, Jerónimo Sánchez. The flowers, together with fabric bows, have a special prominence in the plasterwork of the chapels of Santa Ana and the Holy Spirit in Tudela, as well as in the altarpieces from the second third of the 18th century. The presence of flowers and fruits in these sets must be contextualized with the role of all that is sensorial in the culture of the Baroque, when the individual was provoked through the senses, much more vulnerable than the intellect, moving and unnerving him.

Some organ cases also have reliefs with cornucopias and various fruits. The large lateral flaps of the Fitero organ (1660) have large fig leaves and rich fruit strings held by naked children, among which are angels with musical instruments.

In the sumptuary arts

Renaissance and Baroque silverware incorporated rich garlands in their designs. The silver pedestals of the Virgen del Camino (1701-1702) or San Fermín (1736) are a magnificent example. Some drawings for silversmith examinations, studied by Professor García Gainza, show the presence of flowers on trays, aguabenditeras and other pieces. Likewise, some devotional engravings such as those of San Gregorio Ostiense (1737) or the Virgen de las Maravillas also present plastic plant elements in their compositions. The same can be said of the capital letters and ornaments of the cantorales and of some illustrations of books published in Pamplona presses, particularly in some covers, such as that of the Novísima Recopilación, whose print signature in 1735 by Juan de la Cruz.

The embroidery also included the repertoire of flowers and fruits, as evidenced by the Neapolitan frontal of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns (1665), and several pieces of rococo aesthetics of Aragonese origin, such as the terno of the Poor Clares of Estella (Gualba, 1762), the Eucharistic pastry of the monastery of Fitero and the canopy of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Lesaca (1769).

In 20th century painting

The last third of the 19th century paved the way for many students of the School of Drawing in Pamplona and also in Tudela to start in the still life genre. However, for the most part, they were only works for internal family consumption and, in the best of cases, for some regional institution. Throughout the 20th century, many Navarrese painters tackled the still life with greater or lesser success and originality. From Natalio Hualde, copying models from the 17th century to Gerardo Sacristán, Crispín Martínez, César Muñoz Sola, Miguel Echauri or Ignacio Guibert, to mention a few names. Antonio Fernández Soler (1905-1989) lived in a cave in Corella for the last three decades of his life, specializing in splendid paintings of flowers, made with impressionist technique.

As in other pictorial genres, Javier Ciga left exceptional samples of flowers and fruits, such as topic in his still lifes or as details full of life in some of his outstanding creations. As Carmen Alegría and Pello Fernández have pointed out in their programs of study about the painter, his still lifes belong to different moments of his production. In them, not only the treatment of the objects and the rich coloring stand out, but also the treatment of light applied in a direct way. Along with several still lifes with grapes and pomegranates from the second decade of the twentieth century and another exceptional one with vegetables and metal objects signed in 1911, others stand out, simple and delicate, with different flowers (daisies, marigolds, chrysanthemums) from the fifties. As for the large compositions with pieces from life, we will highlight a couple of works: Elizondo Market (1914) and Sagardian (1915), where the baskets of apples stand out for their real treatment, evoking Cezanne, in different Degree of maturation, fruit of his capacity for observation and mastery, and in the second case, also a symbol of life, freshness and youth.

As far as Miguel Pérez Torres is concerned, we should mention a canvas painted around 1933 with degree scroll de la Vendedora de verduras, in which, as observed by I. Urricelqui, the female figure that gives degree scroll to the composition, ends up as an accessory, being absorbed by the numerous products of the vegetable garden of Tudela, arranged in the manner of the great still lifes of the Flemish painting of the seventeenth century.