“Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber” By: Juan Sánchez Cotán
(1560-1627) Date: ca. 1602 Materials: Oil on canvas Size: 27 1/8
inches by 33 ¼ inches Location: San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El
Prado, Balboa Park Arrestingly real and dramatically arranged,
this still life by Juan Sánchez Cotán is more than 400 years
old, but it looks like it could have been painted by a modern
realist. It is “universally acclaimed as his masterpiece,” said
John Marciari, the San Diego Museum of Art’s curator of European
art. “Cotán is not a well-known name, yet this is one of the
greatest paintings” in the museum’s collection, Marciari added.
This was “a painter playing with avant-garde notions of
naturalism.” A wealthy man who lent money to El Greco, Cotán
meticulously portrayed this odd assortment of fruits and
vegetables and used ambiguous lighting to enhance the parabolic
curve they form within a square recess. “I often say ‘Quince,
Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber’ is an old master painting for those
who don’t like old master pa