AELST, Willem van
(b. 1627, Delft, d. ca. 1683, Amsterdam)

Still-Life with Fruit and a Crystal Vase

c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 77 x 102 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Van Aelst's still-lifes are infinitely various. Here, he perhaps suggests the category's classical roots: the Greek painter Zeuxis's grapes, so lifelike that birds tried to eat them, and the split pomegranate recalling Demeter's bargain, and announcing winter's return, as Proserpina descends to Hades once more.