Hi all,
The Houston (Texas) Museum of Fine Arts allows photography in the permanent exhibits. While wandering the galleries a couple weeks ago, I came upon this painting:
This is a work probably already known to Filiberto - I haven't found a prior reference to it in the TurkoArchives (but I haven't searched exhaustively). Painted and signed by Bartolomeo Bettera (Italian, 1639 - c. 1688), and entitled Still Life With Musical Instruments & dated in the 1680's.
The colors used for the carpet are oddly dark and a bit grim, but it's still a nice piece of work and worthy of note. Observe the carpet border at the far right.
From the side and at a distance, it looks like a blue ground color - up close it is a dull gray-blue, and the gloss finish makes it difficult to evaluate.
Here's a closeup. There is quite a bit of vertical relief to the paint in the carpet - a grid of raised squares (visible in the closeup); lots of texture - and the glossy finish which I presume is egg white.
Regards
Chuck Wagner