Artifact World Gallery
Get the iOS app

Still life with cheese, artichoke and cherries by Clara Peeters

Clara Peeters · 1625-01-01

Clara Peeters was one of the very few professional women painters in 17th-century Europe. Her Still Life with Cheese, Artichoke and Cherries (circa 1625) hangs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Look at the details. Every cherry has its own highlight. The cheese rind, pore by pore. The half-eaten roll marks this as an ontbijtje, a breakfast piece she helped define. The opened artichoke exposes a red heart.

Peeters worked from about 1607 to 1676, in both Antwerp and the Dutch Republic. She painted tables of everyday food with extraordinary care. For centuries her name was forgotten, rediscovered only in the twentieth century.

There is no face here, but the artist is everywhere, in every highlight, every crumb. Next time you see a Dutch still life, ask who held the brush.

Details

The half-eaten roll. Breakfast pieces were her specialty.
The half-eaten roll. Breakfast pieces were her specialty.
Cheese rind, painted pore by pore.
Cheese rind, painted pore by pore.
Women were barred from painter's guilds.
Women were barred from painter's guilds.
The dark, undefined background pushes the foreground elements forward, creating a sense of depth and drama.
The dark, undefined background pushes the foreground elements forward, creating a sense of depth and drama.
Transcript

In 1625, a woman painted this table of food. The half-eaten roll. Breakfast pieces were her specialty. Every cherry glints with its own highlight. Cheese rind, painted pore by pore. Women were barred from painter's guilds. Still: this artichoke, its red heart exposed.