Breakfast in the Dutch Style: How "tasty" still lifes have become a separate direction of painting

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Either very wealthy connoisseurs of painting, or ordinary Dutch burghers, however, who lived about four hundred years ago, had the opportunity to decorate the wall of their living room or dining room with a painting of the 17th century. Then the first breakfast still lifes appeared, which quickly became very popular, and if you carefully examine them, it becomes clear why.

Appetite-inducing paintings: still lifes from Haarlem

The first still lifes were designed to disguise a wall niche or decorate a cabinet sash - Dutch citizens could afford it, and a huge number of works by artists on the fine art market allowed them to choose the best, or at least those that were dearer to the eye of the owner of the house. At first, floral still lifes appeared, and it became fashionable a little later to depict groups of objects, edible and inedible, on a white tablecloth, they migrated into separate independent works from group portraits at a set table.

The homeland and the center for the creation of such still lifes - they were also called "Breakfasts", "Desserts" - became the Dutch city of Haarlem. The masters depicted objects and products that were simple and familiar to the Dutch life: cheese, ham, fruits, fish, beer, served in pewter dishes. But the position of Holland as a wealthy and prosperous country, sending ships to the ends of the world and bringing in a huge amount of exotic goods from the colonies, was reflected in art. Crabs and lobsters, shrimps and oysters, grapes and olives began to appear more and more often in still lifes. The dishes in the paintings also changed - tin bowls gave way to silver dishes, artists depicted mother-of-pearl goblets from nautilus shells, expensive porcelain, tall glasses of wine.

One of the purposes of the still life was to please the eye of its owner, to decorate the room, and therefore "breakfasts" became more and more luxurious and decorative. However, every artist, at least one of those who felt not a craftsman, but a creator, tried to bring some meaning into their works, fill them with symbols.

Whose names and still lifes have been preserved by the history of fine arts

The peculiarity of the Dutch painting market of that time is that each of the artists - with the exception of a few great masters - worked in a very narrow niche, often depicting the same thing on canvas for years. This was the easiest way to set up the sale of paintings to buyers and cope with the competition, which was very fierce in those days. Therefore, now, finding themselves in one hall of the museum, the paintings sometimes look like a kind of "twins", the differences between which become noticeable only upon careful study.

One of the first breakfast still lifes of the 17th century is the painting of the Haarlem painter Nicholas Gillis "Laid Table". Objects on the table appear in front of the viewer from such an angle, as if they were being looked at from a little bit from above. This allows you to see and make out everything on the table, from a pyramid of cheeses to nutshells.

In order for the still life to be interesting and lively, and not just a depiction of a group of different objects, the artist was required to carefully consider the composition. Therefore, the Dutch "breakfasts" leave the impression of some intimacy, as if the viewer is looking into someone's house and someone's life. The still lifes of Rulof Kuts, another Harlem painter, were distinguished by deliberate negligence. His trademark was a vine with carefully written leaves and deliberate negligence, even a mess on the table - a crumpled tablecloth, overturned goblets, objects hanging from the edge of the table.

The two masters of Dutch still life are considered to be among the leading painters in this genre. One of them was Pieter Claesz, who at first also specialized in still lifes of the "vanity of vanities" or vanitas type, reminiscent of the frailty of human existence. Over time, he devoted himself entirely to "breakfasts", depicting a small number of objects on canvas, creating the illusion of a modest meal for one person, as if someone for whom the table was set had just left and was about to return. Klas's still lifes are also remarkable in that they demonstrated a three-dimensional image, the play of light on objects, glare, and a silvery tone.

Another outstanding painter of the 17th century, Willem Claesz Heda, also turned to the idea of the frailty of being in his still lifes - this is noticeable in the images of inverted and broken glasses, His paintings were sustained in a gray or brown-green tone, without bright accents, only a white tablecloth stood out somewhat and yellow lemon or pie. Kheda's works were the first examples of monochrome still life. The usual set of objects in the artist's paintings - a jug, a dish, a glass, a ham, a crumpled napkin, an overturned vase, a half-peeled lemon - in each new piece formed a new unique composition. Kheda carefully, accurately conveyed the shape, color, texture of each object, and this authenticity gave the still life some mystery, mystery.

What could have been encrypted in Breakfast still lifes?

The modern viewer has a chance to see the products of four centuries ago on the Dutch still lifes and at the same time the ancient ways of serving them, and this alone makes us take a closer look at them. And besides, we must not forget about the symbols that were hidden in the paintings.

The Dutch liked to perceive simple, everyday things full of hidden meaning, often philosophical. The fact that life and pleasure are transient, artists liked to "mention" in most still lifes. It is believed that it is about vanity and frailty that they say, for example, broken glasses and a feeling of chaos on the table. But the ham, ham, wine symbolize carnal, earthly pleasures.

Oysters carried an ambiguous meaning, most often their image had an erotic connotation - after all, Venus was born from a shell, but sometimes they were seen, on the contrary, a symbol of an open soul. The fish reminded of Christ, the knife - of the sacrifice, the lemon symbolized betrayal.

Largely due to the image in still lifes, some products became especially in demand, the same oysters once found themselves under the threat of complete destruction, it was necessary to prohibit their fishing in certain months of the year.

In general, the still life provided its owner with the opportunity to independently interpret the composition depicted on the canvas, and judging by the demand enjoyed by the "breakfasts", the Dutch, and even the foreign connoisseur of this genre, liked this activity.

Not only still lifes, but also other genres of painting began four centuries ago, and you can easily guess what is the secret of the popularity of the small Dutchmen of the 17th century, whose paintings the Hermitage and the Louvre are proud of today.