The early 1600s from Dutch and Northern European paintings
Q2. What does colonialism mean?
Control by one power over a dependent area or people
Q3. How did colonialism impact the still life?
It introduced new materials and techniques.
Q4. what do you see in early still life paintings?
Variety of foods, flowers and occasionally skulls.
Q5. What could they symbolize?
They could symbolize wealth and power in some cases and others maybe death, and lack of time which is shown in the paintings with skulls and or hourglasses.
History and theory of still life –
what is still life?
By definition, still life is a piece of artwork that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world.
There are 4 different types of still life artwork: flowers, banquet or breakfast, animals and symbolic pieces. They each have different meanings and interpretations behind them.
Still life does not include people as objects within the work which does make the theme of still life easier to follow in photography because of the control you have.
The first generally considered still life photo or artwork that was made, was by a man called Jacopo De’Barbari in 1504.
Some of the key elements of still life are:
composition
shape
form
perspective
light and dark pattern
These things are the essence of the resulting image. Still life photos or artworks can almost be perceived as anything and that is the beauty of the style.
The work of art that shows inanimate objects from the natural or manmade world typically containing fruit, flowers or gold candle holders often to show wealth.
Artist Reference
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch impressionist painter. He created 2100 pieces of artwork including 860 oil paintings. This painting shows kitchen bowls and glass bottles which contrasts against the brown wood table, this still life painting done by Vincent van Gogh explores old artefacts and possessions that are important or have meaning to him.
Chronological timeline of Leonardo Da Vinci still life Photography ?
1442- He was accepted into the painter’s guild in Florence at the age of 20
1476- Accused of sodomy publicly humiliated
1483- Paints the rocks
1500- Returns to Florence
1519- Leonardo Da Vinci Dies
What is Vanitas?
It’s a still life painting of a 17th century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change.
What is Memento muri?
An object that is kept for the reminder of inevitbility of death.
What kind of metaphors and symbols are used in still life and why?
The term “still life” describes a work of art that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world, such as fruit, flowers, dead game, and/or vessels like baskets or bowls. Looked at another way: still life’s depict things that are “still” and don’t move.
The earliest known still life paintings were created by the Egyptians in the 15th century. Funerary paintings of food, including crops, fish, and meat, have been discovered in burial sites.
“Still-Life Found in the Tomb of Menna” (Photo: The Yorck Project via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
During the Middle Ages, artists changed the still life for religious purposes. In addition to incorporating symbolic arrangements ( a Lilly for purity and innocence) , they also used them to decorate manuscripts. Objects like coins, seashells, and fruit can be found in the borders of these book.
Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” 1440
Northern Renaissance artists popularized still life iconography with their flower paintings. These pieces typically showcase colourful flowers “from different countries and different continents in one vase an blooming at the same time” and often do not feature other subject matter. These paintings rose to prominence in the early 17th century, when artists grew increasingly interested in creating realistic studies of everyday items.
Jan Brueghel the Elder, “Flowers in a Wooden Vessel,” 1606 – 1607 (Photo: Google Art Project via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Dutch Golden Age artists took this fascination in detailed floral art a step further with their vanitas paintings. Vanitas paintings are inspired by memento mori, a genre of painting thats Latin name translates to “remember that you have to die.”These pieces often pair cut flowers with objects like human skulls, candles, and overturned hourglasses to comment on ‘the fleeting nature of life.’
Pieter Claesz, “Vanitas – Still Life,” 1625 (Photo: Memory of the Netherlands via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
As still life’s continued in popularity throughout the ages modern day photographers began to experiment at first because of the nature of the photos being ‘still’ and easier to capture with less advanced cameras but quickly became a popular classical style of photography.
