Adolphe Monticelli, 'Still Life: Oysters, Fish', about 1878-82

A drinking glass, a vase, a plate of oysters, some small fish – probably sardines – and a half-peeled lemon lie on a table against a flat dark background. The highly patterned tablecloth is also present in the artist’s Still Life: Fruit and A Vase of Wild Flowers, making it possible that they were painted pendants. The paintings are also very similar in terms of technique.

Most of Monticelli’s still life paintings were made between 1875 and 1885; the majority, including this picture, were finished between 1878 and 1882. Monticelli painted fewer still lifes than any other subject, probably because he preferred painting outdoors to working in the studio. Nevertheless, his painted landscapes are generally far less realistic than his still lifes. Here, Monticelli looks back to Dutch seventeenth-century still lifes, which demonstrate the artist’s virtuosity through the careful description of objects and textures. This is evident in the naturalism with which he paints the light reflected in the glass and the texture of the juicy pulp of the lemon.

In his later years Monticelli particularly loved rich colours, daring juxtapositions of saturated tones and, above all, a surface roughness that makes his works easily recognisable. As is typical of the artist’s work, this picture is painted on a wooden panel, probably mahogany, which was prepared with a pigmented varnish prior to painting. He left several areas of the support bare – it can be seen clearly in some parts of the tablecloth.

The picture was presented as part of the ‘Harry Wearne Collection of Twelve Paintings by Monticelli’ to the Tate Gallery in 1939. It was transferred to the National Gallery in 1956.