Originating in the Northern Renaissance, these paintings expressed feelings of emptiness, and the futility of earthly life. Examples of these elaborate allegories.
Peeters
Before photography, the only opportunity to see your face, painters took advantage of the Venus Effect to break optical rules and show faces that couldn’t have been seen in the mirror.
An unusual pastel, a couple of fine nocturnes, then some reflections of figures from Caravaggio and Bonnard, concluded by coy self-portraits.
Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Clara Peeters, and Artemisia Gentileschi achieved the impossible and pioneered the way for more women.
An unusual but apparently addictive theme for still life paintings: fish, from Chardin’s ray to the performative art of William Merritt Chase.
Probably the original still life theme, and always a popular one, examples from Fantin-Latour, Bazille, van Gogh, and poignant paintings by Lovis Corinth and Charles Demuth.
In myth and legend, apples have determined the future of civilisation twice. They’re also some of the most enduring objects to be seen in still life paintings.
Four centuries of paintings of tables laid up ready for the consumption of food, with several variations. From Clara Peeters to the modern burger.
Unusual self-portraits by Sofonisba Anguissola, Rembrandt, Artemisia Gentileschi, Courbet, Gérôme and others.
Between about 1607-21 she painted exclusively still lifes. Highly innovative, she led the way for the many painters who succeeded her.
The Eclectic Light Company 