Still Life with Fruit, Jacob van Walscapelle
Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable high-res file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the National Gallery of Art, DC, which also has zoomable and downloadable versions of the image.
Compared to some of Van Walscapelle’s more elaborate 17th century still life paintings, this one is relatively small (16 x 14 inches, 40 x 35 cm) and the subject matter simple, but it has all the visual punch of his larger compositions.
It’s full of beautiful touches — the delicate rendering of the hazelnut husks, the gentle definition of the wine glass, the rich, dramatic rendering of the pomegranate and grapes, and the wonderfully naturalistic twining of the grape vines.
Look at the drops of water on the stone top to the left of the nuts, and the almost not there rendering of the support under the stone. There are also droplets of water on the pomegranate and the grape leaf.
I love the way the entire composition seems to emerge from darkness, and yet is so bold in its center, without losing the sense that everything is connected and lit by the same light source.
Wonderful.
