Still Life with Fruit and Asparagus

The painting was created by Adriaen Coorte in 1703, as indicated by the artist’s signature and date on the work. It entered the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, where it remains held. Prior to its acquisition by the museum, the painting was owned by Arthur Kay, a British collector active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who assembled a significant group of Dutch and Flemish still lifes.

The work’s subject, fruit, asparagus, and a butterfly, aligns with Coorte’s characteristic small-scale, meticulously rendered still lifes of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The painting Still Life with Fruit and Asparagus by Adriaen Coorte is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. While the museum serves as its current location, the work is also noted as being owned by Arthur Kay. The piece was created in 1703 and is executed in oil paint on canvas.

The provided sources do not contain specific accession or inventory numbers for the artwork. Furthermore, no exhibition history is recorded in the available documentation.

Created in 1703, this oil painting presents a compact still‑life arrangement on a dark ledge. A modest clay vessel holds vivid orange blossoms, beside which pale asparagus spears, green foliage and tiny red berries are placed. An orange butterfly hovers above the objects, while the surrounding background is rendered in deep black, heightening the contrast of the colors.

Coorte’s approach harks back to an earlier, more subdued phase of Dutch still‑life painting, contrasting with the opulent banquet scenes popular later in the century. His focus on modest, everyday objects reflects a broader cultural interest in modesty and the observation of nature during the Dutch Golden Age.