Artwork
Still Life with Fish
Still Life with Fish is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Clara Peeters. It dates from 1600 and is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
P) appear in the lower left corner, with the second resulting from a pentimento where the first was partially obscured when the table was lowered.
The painting depicts a carp and a pike in a terracotta sieve at the center, with smoked fish, shrimp, oysters, and crayfish arranged around them. Clara Peeters used varied techniques to create a three-dimensional effect: thin layers for the carp yielding a smooth, glassy surface where the ground color shows through; thick impasto for the crayfish with raised highlights forming small protuberances; and fluid blending for reflections in the tin bowl. Two signatures (CLARA.
P) appear in the lower left corner, with the second resulting from a pentimento where the first was partially obscured when the table was lowered. The work reflects Peeters' role in establishing the independent still-life genre in the Low Countries, with market scenes becoming favored subjects from the late 16th century onward.
Technique & Style
Clara Peeters executed this still life using oil paint on a wooden panel. Peeters employed diverse painting techniques to achieve a striking three-dimensional effect. She painted the carp using very thin glazes, resulting in a smooth, glassy surface where the underlying ground color remains partially visible.
In contrast, she applied thick, pastose layers of paint for the crayfish, adding sharp, raised highlights that create a textured surface. For the crayfish's reflection in the tin bowl, she blended tones smoothly.
The composition adopts a lower viewpoint compared to her earlier bird's-eye views, and her color palette is relatively monochrome. The painting underwent significant restoration to remove yellowed varnish layers and a three-centimeter wooden lath added to the top edge, revealing a beveled edge on the reverse and returning the panel to its original dimensions.
History & Provenance
Still Life with Fish was painted by the Antwerp artist Clara Peeters around 1600. The painting bears two signatures reading "CLARA. P" in the lower left corner, the result of a pentimento: Peeters applied the first signature but largely covered it when she lowered the table edge, prompting a second signature.
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp acquired the work in 1905, purchasing it in Nieuwkerken-Waas from the painter Jozef Van Snick. Earlier restorations had altered the panel, including the addition of a three-centimetre lath at the top and several layers of yellowed varnish; museum conservators later removed the varnish and the added strip to return the painting to its original state. The work is held in the Flemish Art Collection.
Context
Still Life with Fish occupies a foundational position in the history of the independent still-life genre. Market stalls, with or without fish, became a favored subject of Netherlandish painters from the second half of the sixteenth century, and around 1600 the autonomous still life emerged from the market scene. Clara Peeters is regarded as perhaps the most important representative of this new development, with her earliest signed works (dated 1607–11) identifying her as the first painter of fish and bird still lifes.
Art historians consider her the founder of the genre, and the numerous copies and forgeries of her work attest to her contemporary commercial success. The painting's style is close to that of Osias Beert, who was probably her teacher. Compared with her earlier bird's-eye views, Peeters here adopted a lower viewpoint and a more monochrome palette.
Overview
Created around 1600, Still Life with Fish is an oil painting by Clara Peeters, a leading Flemish still‑life specialist of the early seventeenth century. The work presents an arranged tableau of fish, shellfish and kitchenware on a tabletop, exemplifying the detailed domestic compositions that marked the period’s breakfast‑still‑life tradition.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Clara Peeters (Dutch pronunciation: ; fl. 1607–1676) was a Flemish still-life painter from Antwerp who worked in both the Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic. Peeters is the best-known female Flemish artist of this…
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