Artwork
Still Life with Oysters Garlic Eggs Pot and Pan
Still Life with Oysters Garlic Eggs Pot and Pan is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Luis Egidio Meléndez. It dates from 1772 and is held in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work exemplifies the painter's mature handling of light and his shift toward simplification, moving away from earlier Baroque complexities.
Luis Egidio Meléndez's 1772 painting depicts a domestic kitchen arrangement featuring oysters, garlic, eggs, a copper pot, and a ceramic jar. The composition places a half-dozen white eggs on a blue-limned faience plate alongside four garlic cloves, with a large yellow copper cauldron positioned behind them. A brown ceramic jar covered by a white lid, from which a wooden spoon handle protrudes, completes the scene.
The inclusion of oysters is noted as a rarity within the artist's oeuvre. The work exemplifies the painter's mature handling of light and his shift toward simplification, moving away from earlier Baroque complexities. Originally part of the natural history cabinet of the Prince of Asturias, the arrangement reflects a focus on the precise rendering of everyday foodstuffs and household objects.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, measuring 41 by 62 cm. Meléndez arranges the composition on a wooden kitchen table set against a dark brown background, a format typical of his still lifes. The objects are aligned along a single horizontal plane: six eggs with brilliant white shells rest in a white earthenware plate edged with blue (likely Talavera de la Reina faience), with four garlic cloves thrown in front. Behind them sits a large yellow copper cauldron, tilted because it rests partly on a bowl and illuminated by a raking light from the left.
At the rear, a brown ceramic jar is covered with a white ceramic tejoleta, through which the handle of a long wooden spoon protrudes.
The work demonstrates the painter's mature handling of light and his reflection on ranges of browns combined with white, expressing a deliberate simplification that departs from his earlier Baroque manner.
History & Provenance
The painting was created in 1772 by Luis Egidio Meléndez. It entered the royal collection as part of the cabinet of natural history assembled by the Prince of Asturias, the future Charles IV of Spain, and was also recorded in the ownership of Ferdinand VII of Spain. By the nineteenth century it had entered the holdings of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, where it remains inventoried as P0918.
The artwork has featured in several traveling exhibitions. Between 2013 and 2017 it was displayed across multiple Spanish cities including Zaragoza, Cádiz, Valencia, and Seville as part of the Los objetos hablan tour. Later, in 2018, the piece traveled to the United States for an exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.
Context
The painting was created in 1772 and reflects the mature style of Luis Egidio Meléndez, particularly his skill in rendering light and his simplification of compositional elements, as noted in scholarly descriptions of his work.
It is housed in the Museo del Prado, where it was part of the royal collection, originating from the cabinet of natural history of the Prince of Asturias (later Charles IV) and recorded among the holdings associated with Ferdinand VII of Spain.
The work was included in the traveling exhibition Los objetos hablan, shown in multiple Spanish cities between 2013 and 2017 and later in San Antonio, Texas, in 2018, highlighting its continued relevance in both Spanish and international art discourse.
Overview
Luis Egidio Meléndez’s oil painting Still Life with Oysters, Garlic, Eggs, Pot and Pan was executed in 1772. The composition presents a modest tabletop arrangement of seafood and kitchenware, rendered with meticulous detail. The work belongs to the late Rococo period and is presently conserved in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780) was a Spanish painter. Though he received little acclaim during his lifetime and died in poverty, Meléndez is recognized as one of the greatest Spanish still-life painters of the 18th…
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