Still Life of Fruit and Flowers, Balthasar van der Ast, 1621
oil on panel, h 39.2cm × w 69.8cm Catalogue entry
This still life invites close examination of all the details and elicits marvel at the richness of God’s creation: the colourful flowers, the exotic shells, but certainly also the beautiful insects. At the same time, decay is spreading. Fruit shows the first rotten spots, leaves are eaten away by caterpillars and snails and ants drag a dead fly. The painting is thus also about impermanence.
