Palm Still Life with Apples, oil on linen, 30" x 25"
Sandra Caplan’s still life paintings reveal vases, vividly colored porcelain, leaves, fruit and diverse flowers placed on finely decorated materials. A joyous celebration of rich and sumptuous color is further enhanced by placing objects against windows surrounded by draperies which seem to be slightly moving and through which can be seen limpid blue skies, subtly veiled by clouds or an elegant arch among clipped cypresses and a calm sea. Her use of familiar domestic objects in her paintings is enhanced by the addition of elements from works of the Italian Renaissance, particularly those of Mantengna and Botticelli, often placed against a landscape which she sees from her studio window.
- Simona Clementoni, excerpt from catalog essay, “Sentieri” (“Paths”), Landscapes, Still Life, Ray Ciarrocchi, Sandra Caplan, Palazzina Azzurra, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy