de Heem

Table by Jan davidz. de heem (1595)

49 cm x 64 cm (19 in × 25 in)

Dutch Baroque

For those who enjoy looking at paintings with loads of skill, detail, and symbolism, you can’t miss with a still-life from the Dutch Golden Age of painting (late 16th-mid 17th centuries). This piece is full of rich color and textures, interesting composition, and a lot of symbolism. Warm colors dominate with orange and yellow controlling the work’s center. This heat in the painting’s middle is contained by the cool colors in the black/green tablecloth and grey/blue wall. Because it is the most vivid and heavy of the warms, red is limited to small areas in the cherries, grapes, and wine. Instead, de Heem saves red’s power for the curtain in the upper right. Notice how almost nothing touches or overlaps the curtain, except for a small fruit in the shadows on the extreme right. Because of this, to me, it looks more like a red wave or force that is pushing the composition (and the eye) towards the bottom left where the watch and vibrant blue ribbon sit. More on this later.

The golden center is accented by the large silver goblet and platter. This silver should not be thought of as gray (even though it technically is). Unlike the drab gray wall, the silver gleams and sparkles in the light and reflects the warm colors of the fruit. The goblet itself is as detailed and textured as the fruit and seems just as warm and alive. So, while the gray of the wall cools the colors on the table, the silver enhances the richness of the scene.

Some of the imagery here seems to indicate that there may be a religious message in this work. In European art, the presence of grapes or wine, a goblet and platter can sometimes reference the Christian Eucharist. This painting was created during a period of intense and violent religious controversy and much art of the time reflects that. I do not think this work has any religious messaging, however. Notice the satyr on the stem of the goblet, a figure associated with drunken orgies, male libido, and wild inhibitions. I think his presence erases any sacred meaning in this work. Additionally, oysters were thought to be an aphrodisiac. The different wines and fresh fruit, especially the orange and lemon, were symbols of wealth and luxury. They are tropical in origin and had to be imported, which was expensive. I think this work is about the pleasures of life—good food, luxury, status, and sex, all depicted in meticulous detail for a full sensory experience.

While this work has no specific religious message, it still does have a moral, symbolized by the watch. Watches, hourglasses and clocks have always represented the passage of time. They are sledgehammers that demolish ideas of frivolity and unrestrained carnality. Works of art with symbols that carry warnings are called vanitases, Latin for vanities or futilities. Other symbols with similar meaning include wilting or dead plants, some insects, mice, or bones and skulls. Vanitases became so popular in this era that they eventually became their own sub-category in art. In this painting, a bright blue ribbon threads itself through the watch and the vivid red curtain pushes the entire composition towards it. The paintings lines converge there too. The entire work’s color scheme seems to follow the spectrum order from top-right to bottom-left: red, orange, yellow and green, ending with blue at the watch.

Everything is subject to time and time anchors everything. Put your hand over the watch and ribbon. Notice how the composition suddenly loses structure. Everything just hangs there in space. The colors and forms have no logical movement. It looks incomplete. That all lines lead to the watch—the stem of the goblet, the vine of the grapes, the force of the curtain, the edge of the table—is no accident. The watch is small and its gold blends into the rest of the warm tones. If it weren’t for that electric blue, we might miss it. The blue is of the same intensity as the red in the curtain. It is equal in strength and arrests the movement from right to left initiated by the red. Everything moves toward it and stops there.

This painting seems to say to me, “Go ahead. Enjoy life but you’re on the clock. All things stop with time.”

This work is cared for by the Museo del Prado, Spain.