Still Life: A Basket of Grapes and Other Fruit 1635 - 1645

Jacob van Hulsdonck created this oil-on-panel still life in Antwerp during the first half of the 17th century. This sumptuous display of fruit can be interpreted through the lens of the burgeoning merchant class in the Netherlands at the time. Antwerp, a major port city, played a key role in the development of global trade networks. Paintings such as this reflect both the prosperity of the new Republic and the Dutch obsession with realism. These displays of wealth can be thought of as emblems of a specific time and place. They also reflect the values of the rising merchant class, which promoted values such as temperance, modesty, and delayed gratification. Art historians consult a range of sources – from trade records to domestic inventories – to understand the social and economic context of Dutch Golden Age painting. This helps us understand how paintings like this were not just beautiful objects, but reflections of a society undergoing dramatic transformation.