Updated 17 April 2025
On Display Special Exhibition Wing
On Display
Special Exhibition Wing
Still Life with a Basket of Fruit
| Date | c. 1654 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on panel |
| Size（cm） | 44.5 x 72.5 |
| Inscriptions | Signed lower left on edge of table: C. DHEEM. f. |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1990-0002 |
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, apricots, 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. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 34)
Provenance
Coll. Georg Eberle (?); Xaver Scheidwimmer, München; Purchased by the NMWA, 1990
Exhibition History
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 63
Bibliography
- 1991
- Segal, Sam. Jan Davidsz. de Heem en zijn Kring (exh. cat.), Centraal Museum, Utrecht and Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, 1991, pp. 198-199, fig. 35a.
- 1994
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. Nos. 25-26 (April 1990-March 1992), 1994, Nakamura. Toshiharu. New Acqisitions. Cornelis de Heem, 《Still Life with a Basket of Fruits》. pp. 15-17, List of New Acquisitions. p. 45, col. repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 34, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 34, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 48, col. repr.
- 2018
- Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 94-95, no. 25, col. repr.