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Notes

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Although apparently casually displayed, the objects in this still life would immediately have suggested wealth and extravagance to a seventeenth-century viewer. The cloths have a satin-like sheen, and the objects on them are all expensive luxuries. They're carefully chosen, not just because they are rare and precious but because they proudly show how Dutch merchants brought exotic items from far-flung parts of the globe.They also demonstrate Heda's skills in painting textures and objects projecting out of the picture towards us in subtle, rich colours. Embroidered onto the tablecloth is a cipher that seems to refer to a merchants' guild, perhaps implying that the painting was commissioned by such a company. The handsome red lobster with the beady eye, placed with such prominence, suggests a connection with the sea as the source of their wealth.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Still Life with a Lobster

Date

1650-9

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 114 x W 103 cm

Accession number

NG5787

Acquisition method

Presented by Frederick John Nettlefold, 1947

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

View venue

Artist or maker

Willem Claesz. Heda

1594–1680

View profile

Still Life with an Upturned Roemer Norfolk Museums Service
Still Life with a Lobster The National Gallery, London
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Still Life with Fruit and Hock Glass Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection (Dundee City Council)
Breakfast-piece with a Flagon and an overturned Wine-cup The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology