Private Collection (sale: Sotheby’s, London, 29th June 1988, lot 153)
Private Collection (purchased at the above sale)
Giorgio Domenichelli, Trento
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1997

Piacenza, Palazzo Gotico, Surrealismo padano, 2002, illustrated in the catalogue
Trieste, Museo Civico Revoltella, La pittura fantastica in Italia, 2002, illustrated in the catalogue
Potenza, Pinacoteca Provinciale, De Chirico, dalla Metafisica alla "Metafisica", 2002-03, illustrated in the catalogue
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, La natura secondo de Chirico, 2010, illustrated in the catalogue

Paolo Baldacci, De Chirico. 1988-1919. La metafisica, Milan, 1997, no. 103, illustrated in colour p. 321
Achille Bonito Oliva (ed.), La natura secondo de Chirico, Milan, 2010, no. 82, illustrated p. 180

The canvas is lined. There is a milky varnish preventing UV light from fully penetrating. However, UV examination reveals small spots of retouching along the upper stripey horizontal element. There is a small scratch to the lower right corner which has possibly been retouched, and some further minor scratches and flecks of paint loss with associated retouchings in places. There is some fluorescence under UV light which appears to relate to the natural discolouration of the pigments used. This work is in overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Composizione con biscotti e mostrine is a mysterious and elegant example of De Chirico's Metaphysical paintings. Executed in the years of World War I, this important series signified an early foray into the unconscious and free association that would come to characterise Surrealist paintings nearly a decade later. The term 'Metaphysical' had first been given to De Chirico's paintings in 1914 by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and referred to the enigmatic quality of his urban landscapes. De Chirico's best metaphysical compositions are oddly devoid of any life, exposing the evocative and melancholic power of inanimate objects. The philosophical objectives of these paintings drew upon an amalgam of the teachings of the German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Otto Weininger.

The early Metaphysical works from 1911-12 carried emotionally resonant titles and were often populated by eerily empty piazzas and long shadows - a motif that would appear throughout the artist's career. After the outbreak of World War I, De Chirico was summoned from Paris back to his native Italy by military authorities and the facings illustrated in the present work are a reference to military insignia. In 1915, after being assigned to the 27th Infantry, De Chirico in Ferrara began a series of groundbreaking still-lifes including the present work. By 1916, De Chirico had shifted his focus from exterior to interior spaces. He began filling his foregrounds with a litany of objects, as if gathered for examination such as in The Scholar's Playthings executed the following year ꦦand now residing in the Minneapolis Institut🍸e of Arts.

In the present work, De Chirico obfuscates the relative clarity of the items he relished in Ferrara, bringing his objects to the very front of the picture plane in a methodology similar to the trompe l'oeil paintings of the Dutch Old Master painters. The objects that appear here can be found in other larger paintings of the same period, such as Interno metafisico, but here the artist relies on a more intimate scale with intricate patterns and details, challenging the viewer's understand꧙ing of the depicted objects and their relatওionship.