3-035-409 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Still Life with Game, Vegetables, Fruit, and a Cockatoo, 1650. On the back of a chair a white cockatoo perches, greedily eyeing the fruit - cherries, figs, grapes, peaches, and pears - that is piled below. Suspended from a metal game crown are birds and a hare; below, more game birds are placed haphazardly on the table. Closer to the viewer, artichokes, cabbages, a watermelon, and vegetable squash are thrown carelessly upon a dark tablecloth. In this abundant display of foodstuffs, Adriaen van Utrecht took great care in juxtaposing different surfaces: translucent grape skins, fruit rinds, bird feathers, rabbit fur, thorny artichoke leaves, and rich velvet cloth.