A quartet of prominent study in still lives from the Dutch musician Jan Davidsz de Heem will certainly take place screen with each other for the very first time given that the 17th century at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The 4 paints were generated as component of a collection by De Heem, that is thought about to be a master of pronkstilleven– a design of ornate study in still life paint– throughout the Dutch golden era, showing screens of superb food and glamorous things.
Fruits and Rich Dishes on a Table (1640 ), is being lent from the Louvre; Still Life with Boy and Parrots (1641 ), gets here from Brussels City Museum; and Still Life in a Palatial Setting (1642) is being lent from a personal collection.
Banquet Still Life (1643) is the last paint in the collection, has a worth of concerning ₤ 6m and has actually gotten on program at the Fitzwilliam given that 2023.
The program, which opens up on 3 December and is called Picturing Excess, puts the operate in a historic context of fast European growth worldwide, when the well-off would certainly flaunt their treasures by means of the extravagant screens repainted by De Heem.
The Fitzwilliam stated the paints displayed the “vast array of expensive and luxurious commodities”, while likewise describing“excess and abundance but also colonialism” One of the paints, Still Life with Boy and Parrots, consists of the photos of a confined African child.
The gallery stated: “While these paintings are intended to show off the owners’ wealth, breadth of knowledge and their increasingly global reach, the paintings also include moral messages, pointing out that these riches do not endure.”
De Heem’s job was recognized for its realistic accuracy, with the Guardian’s art movie critic Jonathan Jones defining an additional paint– Still Life with Lobster (1643)– as the “17th-century Dutch answer to food porn”.
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Picturing Excess: Jan Davidsz de Heem goes to the Fitzwilliam Museum from 3 December up until 13 April 2025
