Still Life with Fruit and Chestnuts

Trained by his father, Cornelis de Heem belonged to three generations of artists who specialized in paintings of assembled fruits, flowers, and luxury objects. Here, De Heem depicts fruits and nuts overflowing from a silver plate on a stone tabletop. Originating from exotic locations far from Holland, these edible delicacies suggest the wide availability of goods in the Northern Netherlands and the reach of Dutch trade in the period. This still life invites the viewer to look beneath the surface of the elements; for instance, some of the peaches and figs are shown split open to expose their insides. It also encourages an appreciation of the painter’s representational skill, demonstrated in the naturalistic depiction of the withered skin of the grapes, prickly spikes of the chestnuts, and reflective surface of the silver plate.