The still life “Fruits” by the famous 17th–century Dutch painter Abraham van Beyeren is one of the most valuable canvases housed in the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts.
During his lifetime, Beyeren was not popular with his contemporaries. Sometimes he would pay for his clothes with his own paintings. Only three centuries later, the artist’s works received recognition and became prized gems of European museums.
Abraham van Beyeren was born in the coastal city of The Hague. It was here that a special genre of still life was developed — paintings depicting fish and marine animals. In turning to this genre, Beyeren followed in the footsteps of his teacher, Pieter de Putter. Subsequently, the artist surpassed his mentor, and he was even jokingly nicknamed “Raphael of Pisces”.
Working in Leiden, Delft and Amsterdam and getting acquainted with different artistic traditions, Beyeren expanded the themes of his still lifes. In addition to marine fauna, the artist painted landscapes, vanitas (depictions of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death), dead game, and bouquets. His magnificent desserts were painted with exemplary skill.
In the still life “Fruits”, Beyeren, like a true stage director, created an impeccable compositional scheme, where everything is thought out, including the way the image is perceived by the viewer. The foreground introduces the viewer into the space of the picture. It depicts an upholstered chair, on the back of which is a belt with a sword, while a silver tray with exotic fruits is placed on the seat. A vine and a sprig of an orange tree compel the viewer to further examine the center of the composition, where a table covered with a velvet cloth is presented with a plethora of expensive utensils. The apparent disorder is based on the shrewd artistic plan of the master. A gilded goblet, a jug with a silver frame, a Chinese vase and a narrow Venetian glass with poured wine stand in a tight group on the table. Beyeren is able to convey the material, shape and texture of each depicted object.
The overall warm golden-brown palette unites pale pink, lemon-yellow, orange-red, blue-purple, and copper-green color combinations, making them highly saturated. Only the twilight landscape in the window, as a slight dissonance in this colorful world, is painted in cold, muted silver tones.
