The oil painting Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a Market created in 1614 by Frans Snyder depicts a large size, naturalistic scene of a shopkeeper and his game in a Flemish marketplace. The painting is 83 ½ by 121 ¼ inches, which gives it an imposing scale.
Snyder’s depiction of a scene from the everyday life of a Belgium in the 1600s is made realistic through a close attention to small details that would typically go unnoticed, as if to bring the viewer into the painting. The painting creates the illusion of reality so the viewer can not distinguish the paint on canvas from a real life material. The composition is dynamic and depicts movement. The table creates a straight line across the image to stabilize the activity. Looking from left to right, the first sight is of a young boy pickpocketing the shopkeeper. The eye then moves to the shopkeeper who is looking out and acknowledging the viewer, as if inviting them into the space. His hand is lifted as he places another item on the table, which guides into viewing the animals that are on the table. Every animal or person in the painting is in motion which creates a dynamic image which immediately draws in the viewer to …show more content…
The viewer is literally immersed in the painting because they are standing below it, not in direct eye contact with it. Since the entire canvas is filled so there is not a singular focal point for the eye, surrounding the viewer on all sides. But, energy mainly comes from the center of the painting. The deer is precariously placed on its shoulder as if it is going to topple over into the viewer’s space. The deer’s legs are skyward, which guides the eye upwards which acts in contrast with the goose’s neck leaning off the table and guiding the eye down. Both are placed next to each other, which enhances the chaos in the marketplace already established with from the boy pickpocketing the unaware
Snyder’s depiction of a scene from the everyday life of a Belgium in the 1600s is made realistic through a close attention to small details that would typically go unnoticed, as if to bring the viewer into the painting. The painting creates the illusion of reality so the viewer can not distinguish the paint on canvas from a real life material. The composition is dynamic and depicts movement. The table creates a straight line across the image to stabilize the activity. Looking from left to right, the first sight is of a young boy pickpocketing the shopkeeper. The eye then moves to the shopkeeper who is looking out and acknowledging the viewer, as if inviting them into the space. His hand is lifted as he places another item on the table, which guides into viewing the animals that are on the table. Every animal or person in the painting is in motion which creates a dynamic image which immediately draws in the viewer to …show more content…
The viewer is literally immersed in the painting because they are standing below it, not in direct eye contact with it. Since the entire canvas is filled so there is not a singular focal point for the eye, surrounding the viewer on all sides. But, energy mainly comes from the center of the painting. The deer is precariously placed on its shoulder as if it is going to topple over into the viewer’s space. The deer’s legs are skyward, which guides the eye upwards which acts in contrast with the goose’s neck leaning off the table and guiding the eye down. Both are placed next to each other, which enhances the chaos in the marketplace already established with from the boy pickpocketing the unaware