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Still Life

probably ca. 1625–30
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 617
Born in Moravia, Flegel trained under a Flemish artist before settling in the mercantile hub of Frankfurt, where he specialized in still-life paintings of meals. Here, he presents the viewer with an enticing array of food and drink on a linen tablecloth. The juxtaposition of the small bird’s carcass on the plate with the living bird on the loaf of bread adds a note of macabre humor to the scene. Such tensions between life and death frequently characterize still-life painting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Still Life
  • Artist: Georg Flegel (German, Olomouc (Olmütz) 1566–1638 Frankfurt)
  • Date: probably ca. 1625–30
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. (27 x 34 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Dr. W. Bopp, 1921
  • Object Number: 21.152.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
Studies of Fruits, Insects and Shells, Georg Flegel German, Watercolor on parchment
Studies of Fruits, Insects and Shells
Attributed to Georg Flegel
Former Attribution Formerly attributed to Maria Sibylla Merian
late 16th–mid-17th century
Clarinet in D, Boxwood, brass, German
Clarinet in D
German
1750–70
Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456), Hans Memling Netherlandish, Oil on oak
Tommaso di Folco Portinari (1428–1501); Maria Portinari (Maria Maddalena Baroncelli, born 1456)
Hans Memling
ca. 1470
A Bouquet of Flowers, Clara Peeters Flemish, Oil on wood
A Bouquet of Flowers
Clara Peeters
ca. 1612
Hunting Sword with Scabbard, Steel, bronze, gold, wood, leather, Saxon
Hunting Sword with Scabbard
Saxon
early 18th century

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