Still Life with Oranges, Jars, and Boxes of Sweets, c.1760/65 Luis Egidio Melendez (1716-1780)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Luis Egidio Melendez also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 5-6 weeks to complete the process.

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We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

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Once the painting Still Life with Oranges, Jars, and Boxes of Sweets is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

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Luis Meléndez’s "Still Life with Oranges, Jars, and Boxes of Sweets" (c. 1760/65) is a tour de force of texture and light. The painting presents a meticulously arranged group of oranges, pottery jars, and sweet boxes, rendered with a breathtaking sense of realism. Each object is given its own personality, from the rough skin of the oranges to the smooth, glazed surface of the Manises honey jar. The interplay of light and shadow is essential here, with a strong light source falling on the fruit, casting deep shadows behind the jars and boxes, creating a sense of depth and three-dimensionality.

Meléndez excels in capturing the materiality of everyday objects. The oranges, placed casually yet carefully, dominate the foreground with their rich, warm tones, while the jars - one covered with white cloth, the other decorated with green and white swirls - provide visual contrast through their geometric shapes and smooth textures. The boxes in the background, slightly tilted, add an architectural quality to the composition, their sharp edges cutting through the softer forms of the fruit.

What’s remarkable is Meléndez’s ability to make the mundane feel monumental. There is a quiet dignity in these simple objects, elevated by his mastery of light and detail. The honey jar, a recurring motif in his works, throws a long shadow that stretches across the scene, adding a subtle sense of motion to an otherwise still composition. The artist’s signature monogram on one of the boxes signals a personal touch, grounding this still life in the world of its maker.

Meléndez was an artist whose technical precision and sensitivity to light made him one of the greatest still-life painters of his time. Yet, despite his extraordinary talents, he died impoverished. This painting, like much of his work, is a quiet testament to his skill, a celebration of the beauty found in everyday objects.