Welcome back to the final week of my Classical Art Recreation series. Today we're continuing with the painting Still Life of a Wanli Kraak Porcelain Bowl of Citrus Fruit and Pomegranates on a Wooden Table, by Gerrit van Honthorst.
Honthorst was a Dutch painter who lived from 1592 to 1656 during the Dutch Golden Age. I talked about this period in art history a little bit when I wrote about Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, but to recap, the Dutch Golden Age was a period of prosperity within the Dutch Republic when many artists played with realism, the portrayal of everyday life, and a general lack of religious iconography which had previously dominated art history. While Vermeer remains one of the most recognizable names of this period, Honthorst was also quite famous during this time for his portraits and style which was heavily influenced by the Italian painter Caravaggio. His popularity in northern europe eventually lead to his patronage to Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, the exiled sister of King Charles I of England, who employed Honthorst as her royal painter. Towards the end of his life, his popularity had grown so great to enable him to open a studio (his second studio) in the Hauge where he taught drawing classes and painted nobles and member of court.
Despite his numerous portrait studies, I chose to recreate one of his still lifes. I did this because I was in a product photography class at the time, and thought I could use some practice shooting objects. And as a painter, I've always loved still lifes, especially those of the Dutch Golden Age.
(Sorry about the poor resolution of the image, it was kind of difficult finding a full res image)
And here is my interpretation of the painting:
Okay, so this one's actually pretty different from the original. For one, there's no Wanli Kraak Porcelain bowl. This type of porcelain was an export from China and was frequently used in still lifes during the Dutch Golden Age. I replaced it with an old silver tray and a glass bowl, because I didn't really have a nice porcelain bowl to put everything in... and because I really like that tray.
I also don't have as much cirtus fruit as the original, but those lemons and pomegranates were expensive! They tasted great though! In the end, this piece and the other still life I recreated (which I'll talk about last) were less about recreating the exact paintings, and more about creating a still life with a similar feel.
My product teacher did really like my still lifes, though. And he was a tough guy to please.
Next, I'll be talking about The Desperate Man.
As always, if you're interested in seeing the other images in this series, you can find them all here.
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And you can check out my debut fantasy novel, The Children of Gods and Monsters, on Amazon, here.
Also check out the prelude to The Children of Gods and Monsters, also available on Amazon, here.
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