At the National Gallery with 'Still Life'

Well the working through genres of painting has brought us to this - Still Life.

Winter at the National Gallery 

Intelligence from the 'academy' (French Intelligentsia in this case) is that Still Life is a lowly form in the world of painting so I think Julia from CityLit  who conducts our  education in Painting  sugars the pill - providing the chance to look at works that are far more than just Still Life(s) - the plural is problematic and so I suppose is the classification.


We did though look at a painting that fit the classification with no ifs and buts -  A painting by Jan van Hysum - Flowers in a Terracotta Vase - the hidden story in a painting like this is that the flowers shown would not all exist in bloom at the same time and it is the artist's work to create a new piece of art that shows this - so perhaps we're seeing something beyond just a still life even here?

Flowers in a Terracotta Vase 

The painting also shows the artist's skill in the way elements are shown 'suspended' mid flight at the base of the vase.


Other paintings that showed the riches of everyday life included Joachim Beuckelear - The Four Elements (around 1570), these paintings though do not just show rich still life subjects - they include portraiture - particularly the 'servant class' as they make purchases for the household but also more subtly parts (in the background) of a biblical narrative - Mary, Jesus and Joseph on their flight into Egypt, and the return of the prodigal son for example.

Beuckelear was from a family of Dutch artists in the 16th Century he worked often in still life genré and  and was hugely  influential  on its development.

Fire (Jesus with Martha and  Mary in the Kitchen)

Water (Jesus appears after the Resurrection)  

Earth - shows the riches from the land

Air  shows produce that we'd now call game and has the (drunken) Prodigal son on a cart in the background 

Caravaggio was also no slouch on showing fresh produce as we saw in his painting Supper at Emmaus - which always impresses me with (what I now know) is a tour de Force in foreshortening  
 

What a meal to have been present at 'Supper at Emmaus' (1601)

We also saw a sub-type of the genre which is all about the unavoidable mortality of life - Vanitas Still Life by Jan Jansz. Trek.

Vanitas -Still Life  by Jan Jansz. Trek (with that odd full stop) he worked in the 17th Century