Still Life in a casement with a basket of pears and apples, a Haddock, Vine stem and a branch of peaches

(Sterling Sterling Maxwell master)

PROVENANCE: William Stirling, (later Sir William Stirling-Maxwell of Kier), before 1848;
By descent in the family (until 1990);
Christie’s, London, 14 December 1990, lot 43 (as Attributed to Loarte);
Matthiesen fine Art Limited and Algranti, London;
From whom acquired by present owner.

LITERATURE: Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain, London, 1848, vol. III, p. 1410 (2nd edition, 1891, vol. IV, p. 1596), as Velázquez.
Charles B. Curtis, Velázquez and Murillo, London, 1883, p. 40, cat. No. 90, (as Velázquez).
Allan Braham, El Greco to Goya. The Taste for Spanish Paintings in Britain and Ireland, exh. cat., London (The National Gallery), 1981, p. 96, cat. No. 55 (as School of Seville).
William B. Jordan and Peter Cherry, Spanish Still Life from Velázquez to Goya, exh. cat., London (The National Gallery), 1995, pp. 33-34, 209, cat. no. 4 (as Unknown Artist).

EXHIBITED: London, The National Gallery, El Greco to Goya. The Taste for Spanish Paintings in Britain and Ireland, 1981, no. 55.