Still Life with Eggs, Georg Flegel
Link is to an article on Viático de Vagamundo. Also on Wikimedia Commons.
Unfortunately, not the best reproduction in either case, but the best I could find for such a wonderful painting by the 16th/17th century German still life master.
Original is in the State Gallery in the Castle Johannisburg, Munich (no image).
Link: Still Life with Eggs, Viático de Vagamundo
These pictures make me feel how much in common we have with those who lived centuries ago in certain aspects of our life. The simple experience of eating a fried egg with bread. All the detail and nuance of the texture and visual of the experience. The specific way a fried egg slices. The freshness of bread. The way a fried egg reflects light. The same for a man having breakfast so long ago as it would be today.
What material is that semi-transparent knife blade?
Beautiful work! I wonder if the knife handle is amber? Interesting inclusion of the ladybug (and kind of big for a ladybug)!
Carnation, the single flower in the vase, in different foreign languages: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-german/carnation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianthus_caryophyllus#Etymology
The late Dutch Prince Bernhard, the King’s Grandfather, was famous for always wearing a white ‘anjer’ in his boutonnière/buttonhole, a symbol of resistance to the German occupation.
http://kleurrijkeverhalen.nl/verhalen/symbool/anjer/
One of the things that struck me about this painting was how contemporary it looks!