Painting Dessert by JAN DAVIDS DE HEM
This work by the Dutch still life master Jan Davidsz de Heem shows an abundance of fruits and exotic treats, combined with rich goblets, jugs, and wine bottles on a lavishly decorated table.
The selection and arrangement of objects, seemingly random, are carefully verified by the painter. This allows him with unsurpassed skill to convey the richness of the textures of various surfaces, their ability to reflect light. At that time in the Netherlands, still life artists demonstrated their ability to paint a wide variety of objects, often with a secret meaning, and thus build a kind of symbolic “texts”.