Pieter Claesz. (Dutch, about 1597–1660), Still Life with Wine Goblet and Oysters, 1639
Pieter Claesz. (Dutch, about 1597–1660), Still Life with Wine Goblet and Oysters, 1639. Oil on panel, 50.2 x 70.1 cm (19 3/4 x 27 5/8 in.), Gift of Mrs. H. P. Ahrnke in memory of her great-aunt Mrs. Francis B. Greene, 56.883 © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Like many still-life painters, Claesz. favored particular kinds of objects. The plain foods that he painted—bread, fruit, and herring— were those found on the tables of all but the poorest families in the Dutch Republic. This composition also includes tobacco spilling from a cone of paper. The capacious wine-glass found in many of Claesz.’s paintings provides a strong vertical element that balances the basic horizontals of the composition; it also gives the artist the opportunity to explore the related effects of transparency, translucency, and reflection.
