Still Life with a Barrel (1640)

This page presents "Still Life with a Barrel" (1640), created by Jan Spanjaert. Historical background, 1640: The seventeenth century is the age of the Baroque, which favoured dramatic light, movement, and strong emotion in the work of painters in Italy, Spain, and Flanders. In Japan the Edo period began in 1603, and in China the Qing dynasty took power in 1644, both bringing new patrons and styles. The catalogue places it in Still Life. The format is landscape. Still Life, a short history: Later artists, including Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso, used humble still-life subjects to test ideas about space and form. Still life, the arrangement of flowers, fruit, tableware, and other objects, became a distinct genre in the Netherlands and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

On onlly.art "Still Life with a Barrel" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks.

Dutch, 1590–1664

If you like the visual language of Jan Spanjaert, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.