Jan van de Velde, 'Still Life: A Goblet of Wine, Oysters and Lemons', 1656
About the work
Overview
Jan van de Velde was an Amsterdam artist who specialised in still-life painting. His compositions were simple, like this arrangement of glass, oysters and lemons. The knife handle protruding from the table was designed to demonstrate his skill in showing perspective.
A seventeenth-century Dutch still life was intended as a decorative picture for the home, but also as a celebration of the exotic items that were available in the newly prosperous country. The oysters came fresh from the seas around Holland but lemons were a Mediterranean fruit, by this time grown in local hothouses that were expensive to run. The green glass roemer (the heavy wine goblet with buttons of glass on the stem) was also a costly item.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Still Life: A Goblet of Wine, Oysters and Lemons
- Artist
- Jan van de Velde
- Artist dates
- 1620 - 1662
- Date made
- 1656
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 40.3 × 32.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Lord Savile, 1888
- Inventory number
- NG1255
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.