DESCRIPTION
Dutch school; 17th century.
"Still life".
Oil on oak panel. Cradled.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 60 x 85 cm; 87 x 112 cm (frame).
The trompe l'oeil generated by the folding of the white tablecloth describes the delicacy of this work, in which the whole set has an individuality defined by the quality with which each of the elements that make up the still life are painted. The author presents a scene of great verism, modeled by a kind and golden light, but does not renounce to a certain theatricality that is defined thanks to the porcelain tray placed at an angle with the intention of showing the viewer its contents. This tray full of grapes, which still retain the leaves of the vine, is arranged next to a plan placed on a shiny plate, both elements located in the foreground, invite the viewer to transcend the very subject of the still life, sponsoring an allegory of the Eucharist. Due to its technical and formal characteristics, the present work can be related to the circle of Willem Kalf, one of the most important Dutch still life painters of all times. True to his style, it is a still life captured in the foreground, in which select objects stand out on a table against a neutral background. As in many of Kalf's works, there is almost always a bone china bowl, often tilted so that the fruit falls out of it. Willem Kalf was born in Rotterdam in 1619. He was previously thought to have been born in 1622, but research by the archive of H. van Gelder established the painter's correct place and date of birth. In the late 1630s, Willem Kalf traveled to Paris and spent time in the circle of Flemish artists in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. In Paris, he painted mainly small-scale rustic interiors and still lifes. Kalf's rustic interiors are usually dominated by groups of vegetables, buckets, pots and pans, which are arranged in the foreground (e.g., Kitchen Still Life, Dresden, Gemäldegal, Alte Meister). The figures usually appeared in the blurred darkness of the background. Although painted in Paris, paintings of traditional works in Flanders in the early 17th century, by artists such as David Teniers the Younger. The only indication of the Flemish origin of the paintings is that Flemish exponents of the same genre would not have been depicted in their works. The rustic calf interiors had a great influence on French art in the circle of the Le Nain brothers. The semi-monochrome still lifes Calf created in Paris from a link to the banquet or "little banquet pieces" by Pieter Claesz, Willem Claeszoon Heda and others in the 1630s. During the 1640s, Calf further developed the bench into a novel form of sumptuous and ornate still lifes (known as show still life), depicting rich groups of gold and silver vessels. Like other lives of this period, these paintings often expressed vanitas allegories. Kalf's still life paintings vary little in their structure, and most of them actually feature the same objects. There is tableware, with gold and silver vessels, many of which have been identified as goldsmiths, such as Johannes Lutma.