Still Life with Four Bunches of Grapes
Juan Fernández, "El Labrador" Spanish
Not on view
Pliny the Elder’s origin story of eye-deceiving illusionism and creative competition, recounted on the wall at right, influenced artists in the Renaissance and for centuries after. Still-life painting emerged in the 1600s as a fully independent subject in European art, and grapes and curtains became popular motifs for artists aiming to vaunt their skills. El Labrador, the Zeuxis of his time, specialized in bunches of grapes hanging in a dark chamber for winter storage. The setting served as a pretext for closing off the background plane and allowing raking light to conjure the moist, plump fruit, temptingly near at hand. Tiny dots of highlight on the spherical surfaces round out the illusion of palpable three dimensions.
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