Jean-Bapiste Mertz

Jean-Baptiste Mertz’s tiny, jewel-like still lifes look like they were painted in a single breath, the kind of work an artist does between errands in a rented room above a bakery. He painted the same bowls of fruit so often that the pears start to feel like old friends, until you notice how the brushstrokes themselves taste like lemon zest. In Still Life with Apples and Pears (1900), the fruit sits on a table so narrow it feels like a ledge; one misstep and the composition would topple.