The still life “The Bottle of Schiedam” (“schiedam” being Dutch vodka) is a hymn to the old traditions of figurative painting, which Matisse mastered under the tutorship of Gustave Moreau. An affinity for the traditions of the old masters, first and foremost Jean-Baptiste Chardin, shows in nearly everything – the selection of motifs, well-balanced pyramidal composition, domination of darker shades, and nuanced halftones and undertones. Despite the geometric perfection, the painting does not look like a soulless academic piece. The objects are rendered vividly in a refined manner. The interconnection of the objects is achieved by nuanced comparisons of diverse textures – dark glass and silver, bone knife handle and the table cloth, cold metal and the velvety skin of a peach. This artistic experience speaks to the painter’s mastery of classical traditions. It is only in a few details that we can recognize that Matisse was also familiar with the works of Edouard Manet. These include his use of a rich spectrum of black colors and wide strokes in rendering shapes and his addition of light onto a bottle with a sure touch of white paint. While he definitely appreciated the old school that helped him develop his skills, Matisse later confessed: “It seemed to me that when I entered the Louvre, I lost touch with my own time; my paintings that were directly influenced by the old masters’ art did not express my own feelings.”