Looking back and seeing how genres of art evolved, ‘still life’ came into vogue around the 16th century to the present, although depicted in Greek and Roman times, it seems like it was a break from Renaissance fresco’s and representations of religious figures on a huge scale, down to a more intimate subject matter of everyday (mainly affluent) objects that the artist could arrange in either an aesthetically pleasing way, or (and) a symbolic way. It was prevalent before this time, but seen as a ‘secondary’ subject to concern. Paintings have always been used as means to convey universal messages in symbols, mainly religious, but I feel the still life genre brought about more access and even simple viewing pleasure to the majority than the earlier grand paintings did. Hence humble flower arrangements, food tables, books, candles and the like; the painting could focus on composition, lighting and subject matter to convey the ideas and meaning of the piece which could be appreciated by more than the religious or educated. Intimacy is the word I’m looking for. Defined as the painting of inanimate objects, man made, food or dead animals.
Still life was a shift from the Renaissance, giving the artist freedom to experiment with intimate surfaces, textures, colours and compositions, evolving through the ages and most often reflecting the nature of the times.
Early Still Life. (1300’s-1500’s)
As early as the 14th Century artists like Jacopo de’ Barbari (2), were producing ‘still life’ paintings of what could only be imagined as ‘everyday’ object, game and gauntlets!
It wasn’t until around the 16th century that still life took on a development with the help of a surge in world wide trade, exotic fruits, botanical’s and other interesting foreign objects became more readily available to the artist who could depict unusual objects that were at the time a wounder to the viewer. This was the first time still life climbed significantly from the subordinate and started to gain popularity in itself.
16th Century still life
With an affluence of subject matter available to them, the artists around the 1500’s on wards became more and more adventurous, especially around the Dutch regions, Belgium and Antwerp which bore outstanding artists such as Joachim Beuckelaer with his depictions of market scenes (3).
This was not a dominant style, as many of the still life around this time period were a bit more modest, focusing on single objects and more arranged composition such as Pieter Claesz (4) and Juan Sanchez Cotain (5) , who I would like to come back to in more detail later.
(4) ‘Still Life with Romer, Silver Tazza and Bread Roll’ Claesz P. 
(5) ‘Still Life with Game, Vegitables and Fruit’ Cotain J.
Notably both of these paintings use a heavy contrast of light and dark to highlight the subject matter and create a dramatic scene for the otherwise inanimate objects, differing from the above market scene by Beuckelaer. A note on interesting composition would be to look at Samuel van Hoogstraten and his ‘Letter Rack with Writing Implements’ (6). General office items strung up in what almost reminisces of the later cubist still life.
All these styles of still life seem to have become popular with the majority as household works of art. Something that wasn’t accessible with the previous religious art, and it seems that the talented painters of the time relished in the attention to detail and the realistic qualities of their art. Something that the modern still life artist took to another level.
Towards The Modern
Another big shift in the art movement was with the ideas of impressionism and the techniques and handling of colour. Still life stayed true to its origins of inanimate objects, but during the 17th century it took on a huge visual shift from the original 16th century style. Artists such as Van Gogh and Cezanne used vivid colours and impressionist brush strokes to express their art which was never seen before in previous times.
(7) ‘Still life with Plate of Onions’ Van Gogh V 
(8) ‘Still Life with Skull’ Cezanne. P
I think a loose, more personalised style started to evolve at this time that had never been seen before. A level of artists that were not commissioned by the higher class or the church were able to paint their imagination with free reign and the outcome was incredibly unique and, dare I say it, unorthodox.
Unorthodox
A further evolution took place with the advent of ‘cubism’, still life was still a feature but it had gone a development that was far beyond the 14th Century Dutch painters could ever imagine. Still true to the times as was ages past, the still life took on a new ‘life’.
Revolutionary art/thought was being produced at this time and the comparison from the old is mind blowing. Different techniques in brush and colour started to show through, and a more personal style started to evolve.
Pablo Picasso turned traditional art upside down, so to say, with a view of angles that no other artist before him had considered or put into practise such as in (10) ‘Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table,
Still life was still a genre evolving and reflecting the times, even in modern times with an abundance of materials it took on another phase such as artists like Pedro Campos with ‘hyper realistic’ depictions of everyday objects (11).
The amazing thing about the genre of still life is how it has survived the centuries from originally being a secondary subject of art, and developed into a direct reflection and representation of its time. Allowing artists to experiment with tone, texture, light, composition, symbolism and meaning. This was something that wasn’t as accessible to artists before this genre began to evolve.
References
(1) ‘Sweet Balance’ Campos P. 2018, oil on canvas, 97x162cm. https://www.plusonegallery.com/artists/81-pedro-campos/works/2442/
(2) ‘Still Life with Partridge and Gauntlet’ De Barbari J. 1504, oil on panel, 49x42cm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/file:jacopo-de%27_barbari_001.jpeg
(3) ‘Kitchen Still Life with a scene at the Supper at Emmaus Beyond’ Aertsen P. Oil on panel, 66×92.1cm. http://www.artnet.com/artists/pieter-aertsen/kitchen-still-life-with-a-scene-of-the-supper-at-Y7UvGCgIe9muZeWXZZCvQg2
(4) ‘Still Life with Romer, Silver Tazza and Bread Roll’ Claesz P. 1623. Prado Museum, Madrid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pieter.claesz#/media/file:claesz_._pieter
(5) @Still Life with Game, Fowl, Vegetables and Fruit’ Cotain S. 1602. Museo del Prado, Madrid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/juan_snachez_cotain
(6) ‘Feigned Letter Rack with Writing Implements’ Van Hoogstraten S. 1655. Oil on canvas, 80.3×67.9cm, San DEago Art Museum. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feigned_Letter_Rack_with_Writing_Implements_by_Samuel_Van_Hoogstraten,_San_Diego_Museum_of_Art.JPG
(7) ‘Still Life with Plate and Onions’ Van Gogh V. 1889, oil on canvas. 49.6×64.4cm. https://krollermuller.nl/en/vincent-van-gogh-still-life-with-a-plate-of-onions
(8) ‘Still Life with Skull’ Cezanne P. 1898, oil on canvas. 65.4×54.3cm. Barnes Foundation, Lower Merion, PA, US. https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-cezanne/still-life-with-skull-1898
(9) ‘Bottle and fishes’ Braque G. c1910-12. Oil on canvas. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/braque-bottle-and-fishes-t00445
(10) ‘Bread and Fruit dish on a Table’ Picasso P. c1909. Oil on canvas, 164x132cm. Reference book: P43 Pablo Picasso Boudaille
(11) ‘Four Apples and a Tin’ Campos P. 2018. Oil on canvas, 97x162cm. https://www.plusonegallery.com/artists/81-pedro-campos/works/2676/
Eeyanski Arts 
