A man furtively making off with two loaves, Vermeer’s Milkmaid, baking bread in rural Sweden, a traditional baking oven, and glistening alongside mackerel and glassware.
Vallayer-Coster
Tuna fishing in Spain, goldfish sold as pets or in a Berlin flat, underwater with a diver, and in many still lifes, including those of William Merritt Chase, the master of fish.
Was ripe wheat cut using a sickle, hook, or scythe? Paintings from 1565 to 1890 show a preference for scythes when men were available.
A symbol of the harvest with Ceres, a weapon for Bacchantes, the sign of the Divine Reaper Saturn, used by Iris to cut locks of hair, and for cutting the cereal crop.
Judith Leyster, Elisabette Sirani, Maria Sibylla Merian, Rosalba Carriera, Angelica Kauffmann, Mary Moser, Anne Vallayer-Coster and Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – pioneers every one.
In case you missed or have forgotten them: some of the highlights of articles on paintings published here from Jan to June last year.
An unusual but apparently addictive theme for still life paintings: fish, from Chardin’s ray to the performative art of William Merritt Chase.
A parrot, coral, snuffed-out candles, human skulls, worn-out boots, a bottle of poison and a syringe: all objects in still life paintings.
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.
Huge clam shells were a common feature in paintings of the birth of Venus, and other classical myths. They also feature in many ‘vanitas’ paintings.
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