Artwork
Still life with parrot, an allegory of fire
Still life with parrot, an allegory of fire is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Adriaen van Utrecht. It dates from 1636 and is held in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Together, these motifs transform a conventional still life into a meditation on fire as both a physical element and a source of splendor.
Adriaen van Utrecht's 1636 still life stages a personified allegory of fire through a carefully chosen ensemble of objects. A man is depicted alongside a parrot, a covered beaker, an ewer, a wine glass, and Kraak porcelain, each element contributing to the symbolic charge of the composition. The parrot, long associated in European art with exotic heat and vivid coloration, serves as a living emblem of fire's brilliance, while the gleaming metalwork of the ewer and beaker and the translucent wine glass reflect and refract light in ways that visually echo flame.
The inclusion of Kraak porcelain, a prized import from the Far East, intensifies the theme by linking the scene to distant, fiery origins and to the era's fascination with exotic luxuries. Together, these motifs transform a conventional still life into a meditation on fire as both a physical element and a source of splendor.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support for Flemish still lifes of the period. The canvas measures 117 cm in height by 154 cm in width, giving it a broad horizontal format suited to an allegorical tabletop arrangement of figures and objects.
Stylistically, Adriaen van Utrecht's composition belongs to the opulent Flemish still-life tradition, organizing a dense grouping of a man, a parrot, a covered beaker, an ewer, a wine glass, and Kraak porcelain around the allegorical theme of fire. The handling is consistent with the painterly, richly textured approach characteristic of his banquet pieces, in which reflective metalware and glazed porcelain are rendered against darker grounds to heighten their luminosity.
No specific condition report or conservation history is recorded in the available sources.
History & Provenance
Still life with parrot, an allegory of fire was painted in 1636 by the Flemish artist Adriaen van Utrecht. The work entered the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and is now displayed in the Oldmasters Museum. No earlier ownership, commission, or provenance details are recorded in the available sources.
The painting Still life with parrot, an allegory of fire by Adriaen van Utrecht is held by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Within this institution, the work is located at the Oldmasters Museum. It was created in 1636 and is executed in oil paint on canvas.
The provided sources do not contain specific information regarding the work's inventory or accession number, nor do they list any details about its exhibition history.
Overview
Adriaen van Utrecht, a Flemish painter active in the early‑mid‑17th century, completed the oil painting Still life with parrot, an allegory of fire in 1636. The work belongs to the Flemish Baroque tradition and is now part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium collection.
Context
The inclusion of exotic items like Kraak porcelain and a brightly colored parrot signals the growing trade networks of the Dutch Golden Age, while the allegorical reference to fire aligns the work with moralizing themes common in Baroque art.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Adriaen van Utrecht (Antwerp, 12 January 1599 – 1652) was a Flemish painter known mainly for his sumptuous banquet still lifes, game and fruit still lifes, fruit garlands, market and kitchen scenes and depictions of live poultry in…
Museum
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
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