Still life with fruit

Chromacolour acrylic on MDF board. 20x26cm. Completed 16th August 2009. Private collection. Prints for sale.

Dutch still life painters like Jan Davidsz. De Heem and Willem Kalf have inspired Mark to create this wonderful still life. This contemporary still life painting displays fresh fruit on a glass plate which sits on a black table; consisting of a cut orange, strawberries and grapes this small work is purely visual piece. The surface of the objects and their depiction is the only concern of the artist. The glass plate features a slightly raised decorative motif, and with the mirror like effects created by the black table create an eye-leading composition. The eye wanders from the fruit to reflections in the plate and back and then on to the moist surface of a freshly cut orange in a masterly display of realistic painting.

Dutch still life - seventeenth century photorealism

Jan Davidsz. De Heem is the most well known of a family of masterful Dutch painters. His father initially taught him to paint but he finished his apprenticeship under the renowned flower painter Balthasar van der Ast.