TAMM; FRANZ WERNER VON
1658 Hamburg - 1724 Vienna

Still Life with Rabbits.
Oil on canvas.
38 x 48;55cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership; Italy.

One of the successful foreign still life painters who worked in Rome towards the end of the 17th century is Franz Werner von Tamm. In the tradition of the Italian and Flemish masters; he was a specialist for flower and fruit still lifes and devoted himself in a special way to the detailed reproduction of the forest floor. Between 1685 and 1696 he settled in Rome; where the famous landscape painter Caspar Van Wittel introduced him to his colleagues in the Flemish colony. Soon he was known by important clients like the Pallavicini; Falconieri or Spada families.
Von Tamm lets us experience the silent life in the undergrowth; which helps; through the reduced format; to introduce us to this world as if we were looking at it from a small window. The light coming in from outside the image; whose moving rays are muffled by the foliage; falls gently on the figures. The bright areas of the painting are very lively; while everything else is so finely worked out that one can observe all the details up close; quietly and scientifically.