C┼╜zanne's milieu - Still life with medallion of philippe Solari
Probably painted in the early 1870s, this still life evokes through symbols the artistic world of the previous decade in which C┼╜zanne had evolved.
Sculpture is represented by a plaster medallion, a self-portrait of his childhood friend Philippe Solari, and Literature by an earthenware inkwell and a quill -probably Zola's- who was a friend of both the painter and the sculptor. In this allegorical setting Cezanne's own art might be represented by the two apples in the foreground. A parchment held by a ribbon, displayed in a prominent position on the crumpled draperies, is probably an allusion to the success the young artists were hoping to achieve. This symbolic still life with its classical composition, its thick impasto and its Baroque curvaceous lines, is still strongly marked by the expressive style of C┼╜zanne's first manner.
