Dessert, Jan Davids de Hem, 1640

Description of the picture:

Dessert – Jan Davids de Hem. 1640. Oil on canvas. 149×203   At this work, the Dutch still life master Jan Davids de Hem (1606-1684) presents an abundance of fruits and exotic treats in a compartment with secured goblets, jugs, wine bottles on a lushly decorated table. The selection and assembly of objects that seem random, painstakingly verified by the painter. This allows him to transmit the wealth of textures of different surfaces, their ability to reflect light with unsurpassed skill.   At that time, in the Netherlands, still-life painters showed their ability to write a vast abundance of objects, often having a hidden meaning, and in such a way build typical symbolic “texts”."