Still-Life
by ROEPEL, Coenraet, Oil on canvas, 85 x 58 cm
Coenraet Roepel, an artist born and active in The Hague, achieved prominence within a sub-genre of still-life painting, depicting fruit and flowers assembled within a stone niche.
The present picture shows a still-life of grapes, melons, peaches, plums and other fruit with morning glory and shafts of wheat in a stone niche, with a bunch of grapes and medlars hanging above. Most of the fruit are in overly ripe state. The over ripeness of the fruit, their blemishes and signs of decay are indicators that Roepel’s still life is not simply a celebration of nature’s abundance but a reminder of the transience of life.