Analysis Of Still Life With Wine-Beert And Oysters

Dutch golden age artists observed the visual world closely and produced techniques to represent it. Still lifes were a great way for painters to showcase their skills in painting texture and surfaces in great detail along with realistic lighting effects. Osias Beert’s painting Still- Life with Various Vessels on a Table uses these techniques and focuses on the prosperity that trade brings to the country and the food for a higher standing, whereas Pieter Claesz’s Still Life with Wine-Goblet and Oysters focuses on simplicity and the simple meals found on all tables.
Beert’s still life Still Life with Various Vessels on a Table gives the viewer a thorough view of the goods on the table. The high viewpoint and tilted table allow for the objects …show more content…
The daily meals of cheese, fish, and bread are gone and have been replaced with new foods. This is evident by both by the number and quality of the goods. The porcelain is from China, the glassware from Italy, the shells might have come from the Mediterranean. The sugar used to make the sweets came from the colonies in America. This painting demonstrates the economic prosperity that the Netherlands gained. The size and scale of the painting seems to further signify how affluent the country is. His painting not only shows the high quality of items that arrive to the Netherlands, but also the incredible quality of his own painting abilities.
Pieter Claesz’s painting, Still-Life with Wine-Goblet and Oysters offers a different perspective of a food scene. His breakfast piece is not as ostentatious as Beert’s in both food and composition. There isn’t as much variety in the food. The bowls of sweets, nuts, and shells have been simplified to a plate of oysters, two wine goblets, a lemon, and a piece of bread. Additionally, the view of the entire table has been shifted to a corner. The viewpoint has also been moved down. The viewer is now close to eye-level with the table, making the scene more …show more content…
Claesz is very interested in capturing how it moves through and reflects off of objects as well as the interplay between objects. The upright roemer has the reflection of an unseen window while the fallen roemer reflects the light from the upright one. The plate with the lemon reflects the texture of the rindless lemon as well as reflecting the look of the bottom of the fallen glass. The lip of the oyster plate reflects the whiteness of the lemon. Likewise, He pays attention to the minute details of where the light hits. For instance, the hilt of the knife is dotted with small bits of white paint to show the light reflecting off of it. The paper cone also shows the effect of light on it with some parts of it rendered brighter than others. The salt keeper has a stronger reflection on the side that hits the light first. Claesz is clearly very skilled at capturing light as it catches the minute details within the