Still life Painting in the Baroque period The tradition of still life painting has been around since

antiquity, and example of this form of paintings can be found in almost every culture. The popularity of still life is immense, making it very hard to understand why many through out the history of art have excluded it from the category of high arts. The hierarchy that had developed established that history and religious painting were considered the highest style of painting, while portraiture, scenes of everyday life, animal paintings, landscapes and still life were considered minor forms of art. These minor forms of art were executed by highly talented artists, using the same sophisticated techniques as those used in the more highly regarded fields of history and religious painting. Artists who chose to create still life paintings carefully selected, studied, grouped, and depicted the objects in their works in order to present to their viewer highly realistic images. Still life painting was highly popular among members of all social classes and were often purchased at extremely high prices. Still Life becomes High Art During the Baroque period, masters of still life from Italy, France, Flanders, Holland and Spain painted still life scenes of fruit, flower pieces, musical instruments, fish and game, and vessels used in the household. These objects were painted not only painted with the utmost realism but with all the dedication and seriousness that had once been reserved for the human form. The Italian artist Caravaggio (1573-1610) created several works that can be included in the genre of still life painting. He is said to have told an early patron of his that, it took as much craftsmanship for him to paint a picture of flowers as one of figures. This craftsmanship and attention to detail can especially been seen in his painting Basket of Fruit. Caravaggio has executed this still life in several ways that would have shocked viewers in the 17th century. The first of these can be see in the realistic way he has chosen to depict the fruit placed inside of the basket.

The academies and classical style of art promoted that objects should be idealized and it was the artists job to perfect what nature has left imperfect within their art.

Basket of Fruit Caravaggio 1598-1601 Oil on canvas 18 x 25 in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan

Caravaggio went against this standing ideal and instead focused on realism by placing imperfect pieces of fruit within his composition. The apples have been tarnished due bruising and to the holes seen on their surfaces from worms. The leaves that have been scattered throughout the arrangement have been depicted to represent varying stages of decay. The second shocking characteristic of this work is the way Caravaggio has chosen to place the basket on the table. This placement causes the viewer to think that the object is falling out of the picture plane and into the viewers space, a devise that again challenges the ideas of classical art. The Five Senses The idea of making the viewer of the painting almost interact with the art and the objects within the art can be found in many still lifes of the Baroque period. The objects used by the artists were in many cases chosen by the artist in order to gain the reaction of the viewers senses. The human beings five senses of hearing, smell, taste, sight, and touch were all used in the painting, The Five Senses, by the French artist Baugin (1610-1663) in order to achieve interaction between painting and viewer.

Still-life with Chessboard (The Five Senses) Baugin 1630 Oil on panel 55 x 73 cm Muse du Louvre, Paris

The Dutch painter Willem Kalf (1619-1693) created images that record social, historical and economic statements. Luxury items such as Turkish carpets, porcelain, and rare fruits make a direct reference to the prosperity of the Dutch trading ships and merchants. In the painting Still-Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar, one can see Kalfs desire to show off these worldly goods that had been brought back to Holland via the trade route. This painting makes a nationalistic statement of the prosperity, wealth and power of Holland.

Still-Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar Willem Kalf 1669 Oil on canvas 77 x 65,5 cm Museum of Art, Indianapolis

HEEM, Jan Davidsz. de (1606 - 1684)

Dutch still-life painter. He was born in Holland, where he studied art. In 1636 he moved to Antwerp, became a citizen of that city in 1637, and spent most of his very productive life there. The paintings he did in Flanders are the ones for which he is most renowned and are very different in spirit from his earlier works: splendid flower pieces and large compositions of exquisitely laid tables which breathe all the opulent exuberance of Flemish Baroque painting. His work formed a link between the Dutch and Flemish still-life traditions and he is claimed by both schools. He came from a large family of painters and his many followers in Flanders and Holland included his son Cornelis (1631-95). Web Gallery of Art

Fruit Still-Life with a Silver Beaker Jan Davidsz. de Heem Oil on wood 46 x 65 cm
detail

Still Life with a Glass and Oysters Jan Davidsz. de Heem ca. 1640

Still-Life with Fruit, Flowers, Glasses and Lobster 1660s Oil on canvas, 87,5 x 72,5 cm Muses Royaux des BeauxArts, Brussels

Rachel Ruysch The female Dutch artist, Rachel Ruysch (1666-1750) was among the best flower painters of the time. Her exquisite rendering of flowers is most likely due to her childhood, where she had access to rare flowers due to her father being a professor of anatomy & botany. She trained with the artist van Aelst from the age of 13. When thirty years old Rachel Ruysch married the portrait painter, Julian van Pool. She bore him ten children, but in the midst of all her cares she never laid her brush aside. Her reputation extended to every court of Europe. She received many honors, and was elected to the Academical Society at The Hague. The painting Fruit, Flowers, and Insects by Ruysch represents her skill to realistically depict fruit and flowers, along with her ability to realistically depict exotic subjects. The dramatic use of light she chose to cast upon the canvas intensifies the textures of each of the objects surfaces differentiating one from the other.

Fruit, Flowers, and Insects Rachel Ruysch c.1716 Oil on canvas

John of Pfalz (German) appointed her painter at his court, and beyond paying her generously for her pictures, bestowed valuable

gifts on her. The Elector sent several of her works to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and to other distinguished rulers of that day. The advance of years in no wise dulled her powers. Her pictures painted when eighty years old are as delicately finished as those of many years earlier. She died when eighty-six, respected by the great, beloved even by her rivals, praised by all who knew her.

Flowers in a Terracotta Vase Rachel Ruysch McLellan Gallery, Glasgow

Vanitas Vanitas is a type of symbolic still life painting commonly executed by Northern European painters in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The word Vanitas is Latin, meaning "emptiness" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity.
Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life'

about 1640 STEENWYCK, Harmen 1612 - 1656

Common vanitas symbols include skulls, which are a reminder of the certainty of death; rotten fruit, which symbolizes decay like ageing; bubbles, which symbolize the brevity of life and suddenness of death; smoke, watches, and hourglasses, which symbolize the brevity of life; and musical instruments, which symbolize brevity and the ephemeral nature of life. wikipedia
Vanitas Still Life, 1603 Jacques de Gheyn the Elder (Dutch, 15651629) Oil on wood panel 32 1/2 x 21 1/4 inches Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

These paintings are paradoxical, in that they depend upon the enjoyment of beautiful objects in a fine painting while simultaneously admonishing the viewer to beware of material preoccupations. The books symbolize human knowledge, the musical instruments the pleasures of the senses. The Japanese sword and the shell, both collectors' rarities, symbolize wealth. The chronometer and expiring lamp allude to the transience and frailty of human life. All are dominated by the skull, the symbol of death. National Gallery, London

Momento Mori Vincent Laurensz Van Der Vinne 1656 Oil on Panel, 37 x 34.75 Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Objects in Van Der Vinnes Memento Mori, meaning reminder of death, function allegorically. The open book symbolizes knowledge; the globe, power; the musical instruments, worldly pleasures; and the clock, the transience of time. The skull resting above this opulent display is a reminder that, despite materials wealth or the glories of human endeavor, death remains an inescapable destiny. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts Selected University of Utah, 1997