Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, Cornelis de Heem from the old master collection

Still Life with a Basket of Fruit, Cornelis de Heem (1654)

Cornelis de Heem was the son of the famous 17th-century Netherlandish still life painter, Jan Davidsz. de Heem and he probably studied under his father. This painting has a horizontal composition and dates from Cornelis' early period. A wood table draped with a green cloth is set parallel to a dark green wall in the background. The left edge of the table forms a diagonal line running from left to right. This diagonal line sets up the basis for the composition, with the array of fruit -- grapes, peaches, appricots, cherries and plums -- spilling from a basket tipped to the upper left in the same diagonal direction. Two walnuts are placed to the left, forming a diagonal line with a peeled lemon, a bunch of grapes and grape leaves. The basket sits tipped up on a melon, which has been cut open to reveal its flesh. The depiction of a cut melon and peeled lemon are frequently seen in Dutch still-life paintings from this period. While such works often had vanitas meanings during that period, this work seems to not have any specifically symbolic meaning. The overall palette is green-based, with accents found in the yellow lemon and the red cherries.