Cornelis de Heem belonged to a family of still-life painters. While it is difficult to date his works precisely, this one has been placed late in his career, for his work seems to have grown smaller and increasingly precise. Here he highlights the realism of his illusions by attempting to trick us into believing that a bit of paper has been stuck to the surface of the painting with sealing wax.
Credit Line: Text courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (CC BY 3.0).
