Still life

This painting is distinguished by its high quality and shows clear illustrative similarities with the creations of Willem Kalf, Willem Claesz and Pieter Claesz, showing an artist who was fully involved in the Baroque revival of Dutch still life. In fact, the work shows a repertoire of delicious food, sumptuous gold and silver objects, oriental porcelain, wunderkammer objects and an exotic parrot with extraordinary mimesis. The depicted objects stand out for their colours, which are accentuated by the downward-sloping light gently reflected on the glass surfaces of the vase. As we can observe, Vermeer conceived the composition with a slight perspectival inclination to the right, while the vase in the foreground holds the viewer's gaze by following a horizontal line, creating an unexpected vitality.

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for his confirmation about the attribution as an autograph work by Barend Vande Meer.

Oil on Canvas, 96.5 x 112 cm (38 x 44 ¹/₈ inches)