Still Life with a Pipe-lighter
Jan Jansz van de Velde III Dutch
Not on view
The pyramidal structure of this still life is the product of rigorous artistic planning and control, but the imagery implies disorderly behavior. The tall, ringed pasglas filled halfway with beer would have passed from hand to hand in a drinking competition; chalk marks on the table beside the deck of cards indicate gambling; and embers spill from the carelessly abandoned clay pipe, while the burning lighter draped over it threatens fiery destruction. Cubist still lifes summoning up the convivial masculine world of the local bar drew on this prevalent type of seventeenth-century Dutch still-life painting but rarely expressed the same vanitas warning that death comes to all.
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