Artwork
Still Life with Strawberries
Still Life with Strawberries is an oil painting. It dates from 1700 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work is classified as a painting and belongs to the still‑life genre, reflecting the tradition of presenting everyday edible and natural objects.
The painting depicts ripe strawberries (Fragaria), a flower, a vegetable and a squirrel arranged on a table, a typical subject for a French still‑life of the early 18th century. Executed in oil on canvas and dated to 1700, it measures 60 × 80.3 cm. The work is classified as a painting and belongs to the still‑life genre, reflecting the tradition of presenting everyday edible and natural objects. It is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The sources list these elements but do not provide explicit symbolic or narrative interpretation, leaving the meaning of the composition open to scholarly discussion.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support for early eighteenth-century French still-life painting. Its modest dimensions, 60 by 80.3 centimeters, indicate an intimate cabinet format suited to close-range viewing. The composition combines floral, fruit (including strawberries), vegetable, and animal motifs, a layered arrangement characteristic of the genre around 1700.
The handling of oil medium allows for the descriptive rendering of varied textures across petals, foliage, fruit surfaces, and the fur of the depicted squirrel. No information on current condition, conservation history, or specific stylistic attribution beyond the anonymous French painter designation is provided in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The painting Still Life with Strawberries is dated to 1700 and is executed in oil on canvas, consistent with early eighteenth-century French still-life production. It is attributed to an anonymous French painter rather than a documented individual artist, and no commission records or patron information are associated with the work. The canvas measures 60 by 80.3 centimeters.
The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains located. Beyond its current institutional home and its 1700 inception date, the sources do not provide further detail on prior owners, acquisition circumstances, or intermediate custody in the ownership chain.
Still Life with Strawberries, an oil on canvas painting created around 1700 by an anonymous French artist, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While the provided records confirm the work's location and attribution to this institution, they do not specify a distinct inventory or accession number. Furthermore, the available sources contain no information regarding the painting's exhibition history, limiting the provenance record to its current institutional custody.
Overview
This painting, titled Still Life with Strawberries, is an oil on canvas work depicting a vibrant arrangement of natural elements. It presents a table laden with various fresh foods and blossoms, carefully composed to highlight their visual appeal. The artwork exemplifies the genre of still life, focusing on inanimate objects to explore themes of beauty and transient nature.
Context
Still Life with Strawberries belongs to a long-standing artistic tradition dedicated to depicting inanimate objects. The still life genre, prevalent across many periods and cultures, allowed artists to explore composition, light, and texture through arrangements of everyday items, food, or flowers. This painting contributes to that lineage by showcasing a meticulous observation of nature's bounty.
Artist & collection
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