Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels

Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels

Artist	Clara Peeters
Year	1615
Type	Still life
Medium	Oil on wood
Dimensions	34,5 cm × 49,5 cm (136 in × 195 in)
Location	Mauritshuis

Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels (Dutch: Stilleven met kazen, amandelen en krakelingen) is a painting by the Dutch artist Clara Peeters. It seems to have been made circa 1615.^[1] It is a still life, painted in oils on a wooden panel. This is 34,5 cm high and 49,5 cm wide. Clara Peeters has painted her signature in the handle of the depicted knife.^[2] The painting is displayed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.

Painting

Signature of Clara Peeters on the knife handle

Detail showing self-portrait of the artist, who is wearing a white hat

Clara Peeters specialised in still lifes with beautiful objects, delicious fruits and expensive food. This type of still life is called "banketje" (banquet) in Dutch.^[1] The symbolism of these paintings is not fully known. It could be an encouragement to temperance, or a reference to The Last Supper. Or it might simply be a display of opulence and wealth.^[3]

In this painting, in addition to the objects named in the title, there are also curls of butter, figs and a bread roll. In the background is a gold-plated Venetian glass. The almonds and figs are lying in a dish of Chinese Wanli porcelain.^[4] Peeters often used the objects in this painting in her still lifes.

• 
  Still life with the same porcelain dish, now placed under the butter curls
• 
  Still life with similar Venetian glass and figs. Someone has taken a bite from one of the pretzels.
• 
  Still life with a similar position of the dish, the butter curls on top of the cheese

In the reflective cover of the jug behind the cheese Clara Peeters painted her own portrait. She thus followed the example of Jan van Eyck, who painted his self-portrait in 1434 in his famous double portrait of the Arnolfini Portrait couple.^[3] Clara Peeters made a total of seven self-portraits, including this one.^[5]

Purchase

The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague has the still life of Clara Peters, which it acquired in June 2012.^[6] The sale was made possible by the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt, the A.M. Roeters van Lennep Fonds, the Utrechtse Rembrandt Cirkel and the Caius Fonds.^[7]

Legacy

On June 22, 2014 a special episode of the TV show Kunstuur described the renovated Mauritshuis. The Dutch minister Jet Bussemaker explained why Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels was her favorite painting in the museum.^[8]

References