Still Life with Fruit

Pieter Gallis

1673

oil on canvas

Rijksmuseum

A still life arrangement of fruits and leaves is depicted on a stone ledge against a dark background. The composition includes a peach, grapes, a melon slice, and berries with leaves and flowers. The types of fruit depicted here had been cultivated for thousands of years before they became known in the Netherlands. Grapes originated in Italy and Spain; peaches came from China; and melons from Persia, Southern Egypt, or India. Thanks to the global trade, newly introduced fruit made its way into the kitchens of affluent North European citizens, as well as into their still-life paintings.