The History of Still-life paintings

Still-life paintings of the 16th and 17th Century in Northern Europe


Still-life painting depicts familiar, everyday objects, providing a unique point of contact between painting and daily life.

During the 16th and 17th century, artists in Flander and Holland excelled at painting detailed representations of objects of everyday life. Carefully arranged displays of food, and ordinary objects in the form of kitchen scenes became an important genre in their own right and were highly prized throughout Europe. These paintings served a dual purpose of documenting everyday life and symbolic allusions to philosophical ideas, chief among which was the concept of “vanitas” or vanity. “Vanitas” still-life paintings allowed artist to combine allegorical representations of the brevity of life, and the inevitability of death and decay, with religious symbols, Biblical references and realistic depictions of familiar objects and food.

Still-life paintings generally depicted “Harvest Foods” the rewards of agriculture and hard labor. The rich diversity of fruit and vegetables cultivated by human hands. “The Harvest of the Sea and Rivers” the abundance of fish symbolized the region's economic power and its importance for trade. Like domestic kitchen scenes. They reflected world of wealth and plenty. “Game and Hunting” overflowing with cut meat, game, birds and hunting accessories, associated hunting with the privileged classes. “Everyday Food Still-life” everyday items, mostly cooked food and provisions were precisely, incorporated into organized compositions depicting tables set for a meal. “Nature and Flowers” symbolizing the rich abundance of spring after a cold and dormant winter. Artist often used flowers to express philosophical ideas since the symbolism of flowers had evolved since early Christian days.

Still life, like most Dutch art work, was generally sold in open markets or by dealers, or by artists at their studios, and rarely commissioned; therefore, artists usually chose the subject matter and arrangement.


Kitchen still-life

Still-lifes of ostentatious, abundant piles of food, reflected a confident affirmative view of the society that produced them, the unique economic climate, of northern Europe, especially Holland and Flanders, during the 16th and 17th centuries. The paintings reflected the enduring period of economic prosperity of the time. The region's increasingly abundant supply of goods, and the expanding newly rich middle classes. The abundant kitchen scenes, were a feature of everyday life in many northern European homes. The celebratory images were true reflections of reality, advertising their patrons' comfortable lifestyles and social status and complacency. Paintings of the day depicted explicitly the incomparable wealth of northern Europe.


Game and Hunting Still-life

Similar to kitchen still-lifes, cuts to meat, game animals and birds with hunting accessories were a frequent subject in northern European paintings. The paintings depicted the historical context of hunting as it was practised at the time, by members of the upper class and members of the nobility rather than the common man. Hunting still-lifes were highly realistic. The game were strung out or piled up in the manner of a trophy often on a window ledge or balustrade, accompanied by a variety of hunting accessories. Often dead and live animals were depicted in the same composition. The paintings served a dual purpose, both documentary and aesthetic, but their significance extended beyond that of straightforward still-life painting. They clearly reflected a common artistic theme of the time the “Hymn to Nature”. The artist guides you beyond the primeval cruelty of the hunt, to the splendor of the bounty and wealth of nature.


Everyday Food Still-life

Everyday items, mostly cooked food and provisions were precisely, incorporated into organized compositions depicting tables set for a meal. Still-life paintings of this type followed a strict set of rules. The viewer looks down on the tabletop from a slightly raised viewpoint, and the various foodstuffs were clearly separated from each other or sometimes piled on top of one another. The tables were always aligned parallel to the picture surface, and often covered with a cloth. The arrangement of the food, although relatively simple, was calculated to suggest consumption. The paintings depicted food and drink, but most importantly, they represented the act of eating and drinking as though the artist was inviting the viewer to sit down to a meal.


“Nature and Flowers”

Floral still-lifes were especially prominent in the early 1600s, and in their highly refined execution and in their subjects and symbolism were addressed to a cultivated audience. Painters often referred to herbals and other botanical texts when composing "bouquets", which typically combined flowers from different countries and even different continents in one vase and at one moment of blooming. For many courtly collectors and wealthy merchants, a flower picture was part of a private domain that included a garden with rare specimens which occasionally cost more than paintings of them, colored drawings or watercolors of rare tulips and other unusual flowers, and a small library of botanical books and prints. The symbolism of flowers had evolved since early Christian days. The most common flowers and their symbolic meanings include: rose (Virgin Mary, transience, Venus, love); lily (Virgin Mary, virginity, female breast, purity of mind or justice); tulip (showiness, nobility); sunflower (faithfulness, divine love, devotion); violet (modesty, reserve, humility); columbine (melancholy); poppy (power, sleep, death). As for insects, the butterfly represents transformation and resurrection while the dragonfly symbolizes transience and the ant hard work and attention to the harvest.