Still Life
Step right up to this lavish Baroque feast, where Cornelis de Heem has piled a table high with juicy peaches, plump grapes, and freshly shucked oysters. Notice that magnificent lemon in the foreground? Its peel spirals off the plate in a perfect, gravity-defying curl, a classic trick of 17th-century Dutch painters to show off their incredible skill. While it looks like a delicious snack, these opulent spreads were often subtle reminders that earthly pleasures—and fresh seafood—don't last forever.