A Florentine painter, Bimbi
entered the workshop of Lorenzo Lippi in around 1661 and afterwards,
he worked under Onorio Marinari. Later, he was employed by the Florentine
aristocracy and was made painter at the court of the Medici. Initially,
Bimbi painted historical subjects, but he then turned to didactic
still lifes and portraits. His best known paintings feature bizarre,
rare, and eccentric fruits, vegetables, and flowers in both life and
unusual sizes. One of the favourite painters of Grand Duke Cosimo
III de' Medici, Bimbi was given the task of recording all of the then
known varieties of the main fruits in Tuscany through his painting.
The Duke was passionate about gardening and horticulture, and products
of nature from distant lands that were presented to him by travellers
and missionaries made their appearance in Bimbi's paintings. Bimbi
was clearly influenced by Flemish works. He was a master at depicting
nature in its many forms, colours, and peculiarities with brilliance
and vivacity; his execution was considered very skilled, innovative
and precise.
