The Casa Ducal de Medinaceli Foundation has recently acquired this painting, which formed part of the collection of the ducal house of Medinaceli until the late 19th century. In the last of the inventories prior to the dispersal of the collection among the six sons of the 15th Duke of Medinaceli, carried out in 1877, this canvas appears under the numbers 478 or 479, as it formed a pair with another of the same motif, both described as "...".A child in a border of flowers". Another inventory of 1756 is somewhat more precise: "dThe vases with a border of flowers, and in the centre, Attributes of Passion, of sparse stick in a square, and their frames carved and gilded.".
None of the inventories give any authorship, but it is attributed to Mario Nuzzi, a painter who lived in Rome between 1603 and 1673 and was known for his mastery of flower painting. Mario de' Fiori, and who filled the Roman palaces with his floral creations at a time when the taste for still lifes was spreading among the patrician families of Rome, a taste that reached the Spanish crown, which is why this artist is well represented in the Museo del Prado.
It is in an extraordinary state of conservation, with no problems other than some oxidised varnish that yellowed the paint. Once the varnish was removed, the painting regained the rich chromaticism that made the painter to whom it is attributed so successful. Thanks to a photograph taken by the National Seizure Board During the Civil War we know that, at that time, this work belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Almazán, which is why, in the aforementioned testamentary division of the collection of the 15th Duke of Medinaceli, it was included in the lot awarded to the Duchess of Híjar, a lot that was fragmented again after her death between the Duke and Duchess of Almazán and the Duke and Duchess of Alba.
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