Fruit Piece
1722
Jan van Huysum was the rockstar of 18th-century still life painting, and this lavish 1722 masterpiece shows exactly why. He crammed an impossible abundance of ripe peaches, glistening grapes, and blooming flowers into a single scene, all set against a dreamy garden backdrop complete with a classical statue. Van Huysum was notoriously secretive about his techniques, even forbidding his sister from watching him paint, which adds a layer of mystery to these hyper-realistic, dew-kissed fruits. You can almost smell the sweet perfume of the carnations and feel the sticky juice of the split pomegranate just by looking at it!
- Technique
- Oil painting