  About the Artwork
  
  
  Juan de Espinosa’s artful arrangement portrays each element of the makings of a substantial meal with compelling clarity. The vegetables have a humble aspect, seen in the lumpy peel of the cucumbers and the ragged leaves that nearly hide the muted purple eggplants. Lifted above them on a stone step is a glass bowl laden with ripe, beautiful fruit. The skins of the apples and plums are tight and glossy, and the succulent grapes—translucent globes bursting with juice—dangle in bunches over the rim of the bowl to rest on the stone ledge. The two birds—yet to be plucked—are whimsically draped around the pale, green cabbage. Dramatic lighting, in stark contrast to the cast shadows and the impenetrable black background, turns familiar food into wondrous objects. Through invention and astonishing skill, Espinosa demonstrates his mastery of a distinctly Spanish approach to still life.
 
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)
  
  
  Title
  Still Life with Fruit, Vegetables and Wild Fowl
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1628 and 1659
  
  Artist
  Juan de Espinosa
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1628-1659
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Spanish
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Framed: 34 13/16 × 25 9/16 inches (88.4 × 65 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Joseph M. de Grimme Memorial Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2012.13
  
  
  Copyright
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