Offered by Galerie FC Paris
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17th century period
Large oil on oak panel with parquet.
Blackened wood frame with guilloche pattern and inverted profile.
Total dimensions : 105 x 122 cm. The panel alone : 82 x 100 cm
In the modern world, the still life was born in the 16th century, but this genre developed and became established from the beginning of the 17th century, in the Northern Schools (Flanders and Holland in particular, in the form of the "monochrome lunch"), always very inclined to represent a raw reality. It then spread to Europe, and particularly to France.
The still life, with decorative vocation, knows a great commercial success. In this
society where the increase of wealth releases appetites of luxury, the heap of the
precious objects mixed with perishable foodstuffs incites one to consider one's existence and salvation after one's passage on earth.
Cornelis de Heem executes sumptuous tables, in a rich palette, where pomp competes with virtuosity. Remarkable for its finesse of execution, this still life of a banquet is typical of the work of the master who excelled in the rendering of textures and the brilliance of silverware.
This richly colored composition of a sumptuous lunch testifies to the refinement of the food and the quintessence of luxury and sensuality... red and white grapes, peaches, peeled lemon with a rough texture, some cherries transparent as rubies, a blueberry pie and crabs. This grandiose setting combines natural and cultural richness. A diffuse light accentuates the shine on the objects like this sugar bowl which reflects the window; and the transparency of the glass, contributing to the enhancement of all the elements of the composition and without forgetting in the center, this large Pokal (gilt bowl in the XVIIth century).
Cornelis de Heem, Dutch painter, born in 1631 in Leiden and died in 1695 in Antwerp.
He was the son of the famous still life painter Jan Davidszoon de Heem (1606-1684) and the half-brother of Jan Jansz. de Heem. Very little is known about his life. He arrived in Antwerp as a child, in 1635 or 1636, when his father moved there. He was never enrolled as a student in the guild, but was probably trained in his father's studio because he continued his style by painting beautiful still lifes like him.
In 1661 he became a member of the Antwerp painters' guild, and in 1667 he stayed with his father in Utrecht.
We find him in IJsselstein in 1676, but he may have worked in Amsterdam earlier. He then moved to The Hague from 1676 to 1690, where he became a member of the guild in December 1676 and a member of the Pictura Brotherhood in 1678. He taught painting to his son David Cornelisz de Heem.
He moved to Antwerp in 1691 and died there in 1695.
Provenance : Private collection Paris
Good state of conservation
