Still life of Holland, 17th century. Exquisite Dutch still life - masterpieces of a quiet life

The first easel still life paintings appeared in the 1600s in the work of Jan Brueghel and Ambrosius Bosschaert and were skillfully arranged compositions of many flowers, often placed in a precious Venetian glass vase or Chinese porcelain.


Jan Brueghel Velvet. "Still life". 1598. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Ambrosius Bosschaert "Flowers in a vase" 1619.Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Balthasar van der Ast. "Still life with flowers".1632. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Despite the fact that the name of the genre in French means "dead nature". Why, then, in the mouths of the Dutch compositions from inanimate objects, colorfully displayed on canvas, meant life? Yes, these images were so bright, reliable and expressive that even the most inexperienced connoisseurs admired the realism and tangibility of the details. But it's not only that.

The Dutch still life is an attempt to tell about how alive and closely every object, every part of this world is woven into complex world person and participate in it. The Dutch masters created ingenious compositions and were able to depict the shape, color overflows, volume and texture of objects so accurately that they seemed to preserve the dynamics of human actions. Here is a pen with a gleaming drop of ink that has not yet cooled down from the poet’s hand, here is a cut pomegranate, watery with ruby ​​juice, and here is a loaf bitten and thrown on a crumpled napkin ... And at the same time, this is an invitation to admire and enjoy the magnificence and diversity of nature.

Themes and pictorial images

The Dutch still life is inexhaustible in the abundance of themes. Some painters united in passion for flowers and fruits, others specialized in the rough plausibility of pieces of meat and fish, others lovingly created kitchen utensils on canvas, and still others devoted themselves to the theme of science and art.

The Dutch still life of the early 17th century is distinguished by its commitment to symbolism. Objects have a strictly defined place and meaning. The apple in the center of the image tells about the fall of the first man, the bunch of grapes covering it tells about the atoning sacrifice of Christ. An empty shell, which once served as a home for a sea mollusk, talks about the frailty of life, drooping and dried flowers - about death, and a butterfly that fluttered out of a cocoon heralds resurrection and renewal. Balthazar Ast writes in this manner.

Artists of the new generation have already proposed a slightly different Dutch still life. Painting "breathes" with the elusive beauty lurking in ordinary things. A half-filled glass, serving items scattered on the table, fruits, a cut cake - the authenticity of details perfectly conveys color, light, shadows, highlights and reflections, convincingly connected with the texture of fabric, silver, glass and food. These are the canvases of Pieter Claesz Heda.

By the early 18th century, Dutch still life gravitated toward an impressive aesthetic of detail. Graceful gilded porcelain bowls, goblets made of intricately curled shells, and fruits exquisitely laid out on a platter reign here. It is impossible to look at the canvases of Willem Kalf or Abraham van Beieren without fading. Dutch masters imprinted by the hand are becoming unusually common, they speak a special, sensual, language and communicate painting harmony and rhythm. Lines, weaves and shades of stems, buds, open inflorescences present in the still life seem to create a complex symphony that makes the viewer not only admire, but also excitedly experience the incomprehensible beauty of the world.

An amazing phenomenon in the history of world fine arts took place in Northern Europe XVII century. It is known as the Dutch still life and is considered one of the pinnacles of oil painting.

Connoisseurs and professionals have firm conviction that such a number of magnificent masters who possessed the highest technique and created so many world-class masterpieces, while living on a small patch of the European continent, have never been seen in the history of art.

The new meaning of the artist's profession

The special importance that the profession of an artist in Holland acquired from the beginning of the 17th century was the result of the emergence after the first anti-feudal revolutions of the beginnings of a new bourgeois system, the formation of a class of urban burghers and wealthy peasants. For painters, these were potential customers who shaped the fashion for works of art, making the Dutch still life a sought-after commodity in the emerging market.

IN northern lands In the Netherlands, the reformist trends of Christianity, which arose in the struggle against Catholicism, became the most influential ideology. This circumstance, among others, made the Dutch still life the main genre for entire art workshops. The spiritual leaders of Protestantism, in particular the Calvinists, denied the soul-saving value of sculpture and painting on religious subjects, they expelled even music from the church, which forced painters to look for new subjects.

In neighboring Flanders, which remained under the influence of Catholics, art developed according to other laws, but the territorial proximity caused the inevitable mutual influence. Scholars - art historians - find many things that unite Dutch and Flemish still life, noting their cardinal differences and unique features.

Early flower still life

The "pure" genre of still life, which appeared in the 17th century, in Holland takes special forms And symbolic name"quiet life" - stilleven. In many ways, the Dutch still life became a reflection violent activity The East India Company, which brought luxury goods from the East that had not been seen before in Europe. From Persia, the company brought the first tulips, which later became the symbol of Holland, and it was the flowers depicted in the paintings that became the most popular decoration for residential buildings, numerous offices, shops and banks.

The purpose of the masterly painted flower arrangements was diverse. Decorating houses and offices, they emphasized the well-being of their owners, and for sellers of flower seedlings, tulip bulbs, they were what is now called a visual advertising product: posters and booklets. Therefore, the Dutch still life with flowers is, first of all, a botanically accurate depiction of flowers and fruits, at the same time filled with many symbols and allegories. These are the best canvases of entire workshops, headed by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Jakob de Hein the Younger, Jan Baptist van Fornenburg, Jacob Wouters Vosmar and others.

Laid tables and breakfasts

Painting in Holland in the 17th century could not escape the influence of new public relations, and economic development. 17th century Dutch still life profitable commodity, and large workshops were organized for the "production" of paintings. In addition to painters, among whom strict specialization and division of labor appeared, those who prepared the basis for paintings - boards or canvas, primed, made frames, etc. worked there. Fierce competition, as in any market relations, led to an increase in the quality of still lifes very high level.

The genre specialization of artists also assumed a geographical character. flower arrangements were written in many Dutch cities - Utrecht, Delft, The Hague, but it was Haarlem that became the center for the development of still lifes depicting served tables, food and ready meals. Such canvases can be varied in scale and character, from complex and multi-subject to concise. "Breakfasts" appeared - still lifes by Dutch artists depicting different stages meals. They depict the presence of a person in the form of crumbs, bitten buns, etc. They told interesting stories filled with allusions and moralizing symbols common to the paintings of that time. Paintings by Nicholas Gillis, Floris Gerrits van Schoten, Clara Peters, Hans Van Essen, Rulof Koots and others are considered especially significant.

Tonal still life. Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda

For contemporaries, the symbols with which the traditional Dutch still life is saturated were relevant and understandable. The paintings were similar in content to multi-page books and were especially appreciated for this. But there is a concept that is no less impressive for both modern connoisseurs and art lovers. It is called "tonal still life", and the main thing in it is the highest technical skill, surprisingly refined coloring, amazing skill in conveying the subtle nuances of lighting.

These qualities correspond in every possible way to the canvases of two leading masters, whose paintings are considered to be the best examples. tonal still life Story by: Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Head. They chose compositions from a small number of objects devoid of bright colors and special decorativeness, which did not prevent them from creating things of amazing beauty and expressiveness, the value of which does not decrease with time.

Vanity

The theme of the transience of life, equality before death of both the king and the beggar, was very popular in the literature and philosophy of that transitional period. And in painting, she found expression in paintings depicting scenes, the main element of which was the skull. This genre was called vanitas - from the Latin "vanity of vanities." The popularity of still lifes, similar to philosophical treatises, was promoted by the development of science and education, the center of which was the university in Leiden, famous throughout Europe.

Vanitas occupies a serious place in the work of many Dutch masters of that time: Jacob de Gein the Younger, David Gein, Harmen Stenwijk and others. most important issues being.

Faux-paintings

Paintings are the most popular decoration of the Dutch interior since late medieval that the growing urban population could afford. To interest buyers, the artists resorted to various tricks. If skill allowed, they created “tricks”, or “trompe-l'oeil”, from the French trompe-l "oeil - an optical illusion. The point was that a typical Dutch still life is flowers and fruits, a broken bird and fish, or objects related to science - books, optical instruments, etc. - contained a complete illusion of reality.A book that has moved out of the space of the picture and is about to fall, a fly that has landed on a vase that you want to swat - typical plots for a fake picture.

The paintings of the leading masters of still life in the style of "tromple" - Gerard Dou, Samuel van Hoogstraten and others - often depict a niche recessed into the wall with shelves on which there are a lot of different things. The artist's technical skill in conveying textures and surfaces, light and shadow was so great that the hand itself reached for a book or a glass.

Bloom time and sunset time

By the middle of the 17th century, the main varieties of still life in the paintings of the Dutch masters reached their peak. The “luxurious” still life is becoming popular, because the wealth of the burghers is growing and rich dishes, precious fabrics and food abundance do not look alien in the interior of a city house or a rich rural estate.

The paintings increase in size, they amaze with the number of different textures. At the same time, the authors are looking for ways to increase entertainment for the viewer. To do this, the traditional Dutch still life - with fruits and flowers, hunting trophies and dishes of various materials - is complemented by exotic insects or small animals and birds. In addition to creating the usual allegorical associations, the artist often introduced them simply for positive emotions, to increase the commercial appeal of the plot.

The masters of the "luxurious still life" - Jan van Huysum, Jan Davids de Heem, Francois Reykhals, Willem Kalf - became the harbingers of the coming time, when increased decorativeness became important, creating an impressive impression.

End of the golden age

Priorities and fashion changed, the influence of religious dogma on the choice of subjects for painters gradually faded into the past, the very concept of the golden age that Dutch painting knew was receding into the past. Still lifes entered the history of this era as one of the most important and impressive pages.

Willem Klas Hedda. Still life with a pie, 1627

The "golden" age of still life was the 17th century, when it finally took shape as independent genre painting, especially in the work of the Dutch and Flemish artists. At the same time, the term “quiet, frozen life” appeared to refer to still lifes (Dutch stilleven, German Stilleben, English still-life). The first "stilleven" were simple in plot, but even then the objects depicted on them carried and semantic load: bread, a glass of wine, fish are symbols of Christ, a knife is a symbol of sacrifice, a lemon is a symbol of unquenched thirst; nuts in a shell - a soul bound by sin; the apple reminds of the fall.

Gradually, the symbolic language of the picture was enriched.

Franciscus Geisbrechts, 17th century

The symbols found on the canvases were intended to remind of frailty human life and on the transience of pleasures and achievements:

The skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death.

Rotten fruits are a symbol of aging.

Ripe fruits symbolize fertility, abundance, in figuratively wealth and prosperity.

A number of fruits have their own meaning: the fall is denoted by pears, tomatoes, citrus fruits, grapes, peaches and cherries, and of course, an apple. Figs, plums, cherries, apples or peaches have erotic overtones.

Grain sprouts, branches of ivy or laurel (rare) - a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life.

Sea shells, sometimes live snails - the shell of a mollusk is the remains of a once living animal, it means death and frailty.

The creeping snail is the personification of the deadly sin of laziness.

Large mollusks denote the duality of nature, a symbol of lust, another of the deadly sins.

Soap bubbles - brevity of life and suddenness of death; a reference to the expression homo bulla - "a man is a soap bubble."

Extinguishing smoking candle (cinder end) or oil lamp; a cap for extinguishing candles - a burning candle is a symbol human soul, its fading symbolizes departure.

cups, playing cards or bones, chess (rare) - a sign of an erroneous life purpose, seeking pleasure and a sinful life. Equality of opportunity in gambling also meant reprehensible anonymity.

A smoking pipe is a symbol of fleeting and elusive earthly pleasures.

Carnival mask - is a sign of the absence of a person inside it. Also intended for a festive masquerade, irresponsible pleasure.

Mirrors, glass (mirror) balls - a mirror is a symbol of vanity, in addition, it is also a sign of reflection, shadow, and not a real phenomenon.

Beyeren. Still Life with Lobster, 1667

Broken dishes, usually glass goblets. An empty glass, opposed to a full one, symbolizes death.

Glass symbolizes fragility, snow-white porcelain - purity.

The mortar and pestle are symbols of male and female sexuality.

The bottle is a symbol of the sin of drunkenness.

Knife - reminds of the vulnerability of a person and his mortality.

Hourglass and mechanical clock - the transience of time.

Musical instruments, notes - the brevity and ephemeral nature of life, a symbol of the arts.

Books and geographic Maps(mappa mundi), writing pen - a symbol of the sciences. A globe, both the earth and the starry sky.

brush palette, Laurel wreath(usually on the head of the skull) - symbols of painting and poetry.

Letters symbolize human relationships.

Medical instruments are a reminder of diseases and frailty of the human body.

Coin purses, jewelry boxes - jewelry and cosmetics are designed to create beauty, female attractiveness, at the same time they are associated with vanity, narcissism and the mortal sin of arrogance. They also signal the absence of their owners on the canvas.

Weapons and armor are a symbol of power and might, a designation of what cannot be taken with you to the grave.

Crowns and papal tiaras, scepters and powers, wreaths of leaves are signs of transient earthly domination, which is opposed to the heavenly world order. Like masks, they symbolize the absence of those who wore them.

Keys - symbolize the power of a housewife who manages stocks.

Ruins - symbolize the transient life of those who once inhabited them.

Insects, birds and animals were often depicted in still lifes. Flies and spiders, for example, were considered symbols of stinginess and evil, and lizards and snakes were considered symbols of deceit. Crayfish or lobsters personified the vicissitudes of fate or wisdom.

Jacques André Joseph Aved. About 1670.

The book - the tragedy of Sophocles "Electra" - in this case, the symbol is ambiguous. By placing it in the composition, the artist recalls the inevitability of retribution for any crime not on earth, but in heaven, since tragedy is permeated with this thought. The antique motif in such still lifes often symbolized the continuity of art. On title page stands the name of the translator, the famous Dutch poet Jost van den Vondel, whose works in ancient and biblical stories were so topical that he was even persecuted. It is unlikely that the artist placed Vondel by chance - it is possible that, speaking of the vanity of the world, he decided to mention the vanity of power.

The sword and helmet are the emblem of transient military glory.

White with red plume - composition center paintings. Feathers always mean vanity and vanity. The picture is dated by the helmet with the plume. Lodewijk van der Helst in 1670 depicted in such a helmet on the posthumous portrait of Admiral Sterlingwerf. The admiral's helmet is present in several more still lifes by van Streck.

Portrait of a sanguine. Unlike oil, sanguine is very poorly preserved, as is paper, in contrast to canvas. This sheet speaks of the futility of the artist's efforts, worn and torn edges are designed to reinforce this idea.

Golden fringe is the vanity of luxury.

Skull - in ancient culture attribute of Kronos (Saturn), that is, a symbol of time. The Wheel of Fortune was also depicted with a skull. For Christians, it is a sign of worldly vanity, mental contemplation of death, an attribute of hermit life. With him depicted St. Francis of Assisi, St. Jerome, Mary Magdalene, the Apostle Paul. The skull is also a symbol eternal life Christ crucified on Calvary, where, according to legend, the skull of Adam was buried. An ear wrapped around a skull is a symbol of the immortality of the soul (“I am the bread of life” - John 6:48), hope for eternal life.

A stack of shabby papers is the vanity of knowledge.

Powder horn on a chain - very characteristic subject For Dutch still life. Here, apparently, it should be interpreted as something bringing death, as opposed to cornucopia

Adrian van Utrecht."Vanitas". 1642.

lilies of the valley, violets, forget-me-nots surrounded by roses, carnations, anemones - symbols of modesty and purity;

a large flower in the center of the composition is the “crown of virtue”;

crumbling petals near the vase are signs of frailty;

a withered flower is a hint of the disappearance of feelings;

irises - a sign of the Virgin;

white roses - platonic love and a symbol of purity;

red roses - a symbol of passionate love and a symbol of the Virgin;

red flowers are a symbol of the atoning sacrifice of Christ;

white lily not only beautiful flower, but also a symbol of the purity of the Virgin Mary;

blue and blue flowers- a reminder of the azure sky;

thistle - a symbol of evil;

carnation - a symbol of the shed blood of Christ;

poppy - an allegory of sleep, oblivion, a symbol of one of the deadly sins - laziness;

anemone - help in illness;

tulips - a symbol of rapidly disappearing beauty, the cultivation of these flowers was considered one of the most vain and futile activities; tulip also symbolized love, sympathy, mutual understanding; white tulip - false love, red tulip - passionate love (in Europe and America, the tulip is associated with spring, light, life, colors and is considered a cozy friendly flower, in Iran, Turkey and other countries of the East, the tulip associated with feelings of love and erotica).

Natalia MARKOVA,
head of the graphics department of the Pushkin Museum im. A, S, Pushkin

Still life in 17th century Holland

We can say that time acted like a camera lens: with a change in focal length, the image scale changed until only objects remained in the frame, and the interior and figures were pushed out of the picture. "Frames" with a still life can be found in many paintings Dutch artists 16th century It is easy to imagine in the form of an independent picture a laid table from " family portrait» Martin van Hemskerk (c. 1530. State museums, Kassel) or a vase of flowers from a composition by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Jan Brueghel himself did something like this, writing in the very early XVII V. the first independent flower still lifes. They appeared around 1600 - this time is considered to be the date of birth of the genre.

Martin van Hemskerk. Family portrait. Fragment. OK. 1530. State Museums, Kassel.

At that moment the O va to define it did not yet exist. The term "still life" originated in France in the 18th century. and literally translated means "dead nature", "dead nature" (nature morte). In Holland, paintings depicting objects were called “stillleven”, which can be translated both as “still nature, model”, and as “quiet life”, which much more accurately conveys the specifics of the Dutch still life. But this general concept came into use only from 1650, and until that time the paintings were called according to the plot of the image: b lumentopf - a vase of flowers, banketje - a set table, fruytage - fruits, toebackje - still lifes with smoking accessories, doodshoofd - paintings depicting a skull. Already from this enumeration it is clear how great was the variety of depicted objects. Indeed, the whole objective world surrounding them seemed to spill out onto the paintings of Dutch artists.

Abraham van Beuren. Still life with lobsters. XVII century.Kunsthaus, Zurich

In art, this meant a revolution no less than the one that the Dutch made in the economic and social sphere, having won independence from the power of Catholic Spain and creating the first democratic state. While their contemporaries in Italy, France, Spain were focused on creating huge religious compositions for church altars, paintings and frescoes on the subjects of ancient mythology for palace halls, the Dutch wrote small paintings with views of the corners of the native landscape, dancing at a village holiday or a home concert in a burgher's house, scenes in a rural tavern, on the street or in a dating house, laid tables with breakfast or dessert, that is, a “low”, unpretentious nature, not overshadowed by antique or renaissance poetic tradition, except perhaps contemporary Dutch poetry. The contrast with the rest of Europe was striking.

Paintings were rarely created to order, but mostly freely sold in the markets for everyone and were intended to decorate rooms in the homes of townspeople, and even rural residents - of those that are richer. Later, in the XVIII and XIX centuries When life in Holland became more difficult and scarce, these domestic paintings were widely sold at auctions and readily acquired in royal and aristocratic collections throughout Europe, from where they eventually migrated to the largest museums in the world. When in mid-nineteenth V. artists everywhere turned to depicting the reality around them, paintings by Dutch masters of the 17th century. served as a model for them in all genres.

Jan Venix. Still life with white peacock. 1692. State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

A feature of Dutch painting was the specialization of artists by genre. Within the still life genre, there was even a division into separate topics, and different cities had their favorite types of still life, and if the painter happened to move to another city, he often changed his art dramatically and began to paint those varieties of the genre that were popular in this place.

Haarlem became the birthplace of the characteristic appearance Dutch still life - "breakfast". The paintings of Pieter Claesz depict a laid table with dishes and dishes. A pewter plate, a herring or ham, a bun, a glass of wine, a crumpled napkin, a lemon or a branch of grapes, cutlery - a sparing and precise selection of items creates the impression of a table set for one person. The presence of a person is indicated by the "picturesque" disorder introduced into the arrangement of things, and the atmosphere of a cozy residential interior, achieved by the transmission of the light-air environment. The dominant gray-brownish tone combines objects into a single picture, while the still life itself becomes a reflection of the individual tastes of a person, his lifestyle.

In the same vein as Klas, another Harleman, Willem Heda, worked. The color of his paintings is even more subordinated to tone unity, it is dominated by a gray-silver tone, set by the image of silver or pewter utensils. For this colorful restraint, the paintings began to be called “monochrome breakfasts”.

Abraham van Beuren. Breakfast. XVII century. Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, Moscow

In Utrecht, a lush and elegant flower still life developed. Its main representatives are Jan Davids de Heem, Justus van Huysum and his son Jan van Huysum, who is especially famous for his meticulous writing and light coloring.

In The Hague, the center of maritime industry, Pieter de Putter and his student Abraham van Beijeren perfected the image of fish and other inhabitants of the sea, the color of their paintings casts a sheen of scales, in which spots of pink, red, blue colors flash. University Leiden created and improved the type of philosophical still life "vanitas" (vanity of vanities). In the paintings of Harmen van Steenwijk and Jan Davidsz de Heem, objects that embody earthly glory and wealth (armor, books, art attributes, precious utensils) or sensual pleasures (flowers, fruits) are side by side with a skull or an hourglass as a reminder of the transience of life. A more democratic "kitchen" still life originated in Rotterdam in the work of Floris van Schoten and Francois Reykhals, and his best achievements are associated with the names of the brothers Cornelis and Herman Saftleven.

In the middle of the century, the theme of modest "breakfasts" is transformed in the works of Willem van Aelst, Urian van Streck and, in particular, Willem Kalf and Abraham van Beyeren, into luxurious "banquets" and "desserts". Gilded goblets, Chinese porcelain and Delft faience, carpet tablecloth, southern fruits emphasize the taste for elegance and wealth that was established in Dutch society in the middle of the century. Accordingly, “monochrome” breakfasts are being replaced by juicy, colorfully saturated, golden-warm colors. The influence of Rembrandt's chiaroscuro makes the colors in Kalf's paintings glow from within, poetizing the objective world.

Willem Kalf. Still life with a goblet - nautilus and a bowl of Chinese porcelain. Thyssen Museum - Bornemisza, Madrid

Masters of the image of "hunting trophies" and "bird yards" were Jan-Baptiste Veniks, his son Jan Veniks and Melchior de Hondekuter. This type of still life became especially widespread in the second half - the end of the century in connection with the aristocratization of the burghers: the arrangement of estates and entertainment by hunting. painting two latest artists shows an increase in decorativeness, color, a desire for external effects.

The amazing ability of Dutch painters to convey material world in all its richness and diversity, it was appreciated not only by contemporaries, but also by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries, they saw in still lifes, first of all, and only this brilliant mastery of conveying reality. However, for the Dutch themselves XVII century these pictures were full of meaning, they offered food not only for the eyes, but also for the mind. The paintings entered into a dialogue with the audience, telling them important moral truths, reminding them of the deceitfulness of earthly joys, the futility of human aspirations, directing their thoughts to philosophical reflections about the meaning of human life.