Cornelis de Heem
Flemish painter, 1631-1695
Still Life with Fruit
1655/57
Oil on canvas
29 1/4 x 35 inches (74.295 x 88.9 centimeters)
Purchase: John and Fannie Saeger Trust, 1974.
1974.072.000

The Antwerp artist Cornelis de Heem learned painting from his father, the influential Dutch still-life painter Jan Davidsz. de Heem. This still-life conveyed more than one meaning to the seventeenth-century purchaser who first hung it on his wall. Luscious ripe fruit crawling with caterpillars, ants, and other insects conveyed both God's bounty and the temporary nature of sensual pleasure and life. The glass of wine clamped to an ornate bekerschroef (goblet holder) was a sign of prosperity and conviviality.