Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Still life with fruit, c. 1640-1650, oil on canvas, 67.3 × 79.8 cm, inscribed in brown paint u.r.: J. D. de Heem f (dot above f), Felton Bequest, 1935 © National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

From the 1640s, de Heem was the most important and influential still-life painter in the Netherlands. This painting belongs to an iconographic type invented by him: the pronkstilleven, or sumptuous still life. This popular type of painting enlivened rooms of many Netherlandish homes. De Heem’s technical brilliance gives the work a seductive realism. With the exception of the cherries, all the luscious fruits are from the autumn harvest, richly celebrated in this superb painting.