It is no coincidence that some
objects appear more frequently in Dutch still life paintings than others during
the Baroque period. We see lots of
paintings that include fruit, fancy silverware, flowers, candles, books,
jewelry, musical instruments, and that ominous skull that keeps
reappearing. What does it all mean? I will examine a particular still life in
detail to provide the model for inspection into this genre, but it will be
useful to first offer a bit of general overview.
Putting aside the purely material
intentions of artists who were advertising trade with the Eastern world and a
predominant fixation on tulips, these paintings do carry a prevalent religious
theme. Knowing the Protestant minimalist
tendencies of Genre paintings and nature landscapes, a still life is a
relatively simple work of art to look at.
The humility of man (and more specifically the humility of the artist)
is being expressed through this latent simplicity, but the underscoring themes
that reside beneath the surface of the work demonstrate the bent of the artist
toward the deep, personal connection with God, profound philosophical thoughts,
and the innermost sincerity of human emotion.
Compare this to Rubens' Raising of the Cross, an elaborate, huge
painting that featured heavy action and drama with bulky figures and flowing,
multicolored robes. A still life, on the
other hand, features the simple, Protestant mindset of a table set with certain
objects, objects to be celebrated on one level for their sheer beauty and on a
subliminal level for their deeper, philosophical connotations. Objects, as I said, become symbols,
representing abstract concepts of life, death, God, the universe, and mankind.
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