A quartet of Dutch artist Jan Davids de Heem's influential still life paintings will be exhibited together for the first time since the 17th century at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum.
The four paintings were created as part of a series by De Heem, considered a master of the Pronkstilven (ornate still life style) during the Dutch Golden Age, depicting sumptuous food and displays of lavish goods. I am.
“Fruits and Rich Dishes on the Table” (1640) is on loan from the Louvre. Still Life with a Boy and a Parrot (1641), arrived from the Museum of the City of Brussels. and Palazzo Still Life (1642) are on loan from a private collection.
Still Life at a Banquet (1643) is the last painting in the series, valued at around £6 million, and will be on display at the Fitzwilliam from 2023.
This show, which opens on December 3rd, excessive depictionplaces this work in the historical context of Europe's rapid expansion around the world at a time when the wealthy flaunted their wealth through ostentatious displays painted by de Heem. .
The Fitzwilliam newspaper said that while the paintings depicted “an enormous number of expensive and luxurious goods”, they also referred to “excess and opulence but also colonialism”. One of the paintings, “Still Life with Boy and Parrot,” includes the figure of an enslaved African boy.
The museum said: “Although these paintings are intended to show off their owners' wealth, extensive knowledge, and increasingly global influence, they also contain moral messages. It points out that these wealth are not permanent.”
De Heem's work is known for its almost lifelike precision, and The Guardian's art critic Jonathan Jones described another painting, Still Life with Lobster (1643), as a “17th-century antidote to food porn.'' “The Dutch answer.”
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Picture Excess: Jan Davids de Heem On display at the Fitzwilliam Museum from December 3rd to April 13th, 2025
