Artwork
Still Life with Fish
Still Life with Fish is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Clara Peeters. It dates from 1600 and is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
About this work
Overview
Created around 1600, *Still Life with Fish* is an oil painting by Clara Peeters, a leading Flemish still‑life specialist of the early seventeenth century. The work presents an arranged tableau of fish, shellfish and kitchenware on a tabletop, exemplifying the detailed domestic compositions that marked the period’s breakfast‑still‑life tradition.
Subject & Meaning
The composition gathers several common freshwater species—herring, carp, pike—alongside shrimp, crayfish and oysters, all set among a colander and plates. By depicting everyday market fare with meticulous care, the painting reflects the Netherlandish interest in the material abundance of daily life and the moral undertones often associated with the fleeting nature of food.
Technique & Style
Peeters employs a pronounced chiaroscuro, contrasting bright, reflective surfaces of the fish scales with deep shadows that model the forms. Her handling of oil paint captures subtle variations in texture, from the slick sheen of a carp’s skin to the roughness of a crustacean’s shell, achieving a convincing three‑dimensional effect within a confined space.
History & Provenance
The canvas belongs to the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It was produced during Peeters’s active period in both the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, where she earned recognition as the most prominent female artist of her region, contributing to the broader Dutch Golden Age of still‑life painting.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Clara Peeters (Dutch pronunciation: ; fl. 1607–1676) was a Flemish still-life painter from Antwerp who worked in both the Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic. Peeters is the best-known female Flemish artist of this…
Still Life with Flowers Surrounded by Insects and a Snail
A Bouquet of Flowers
Still life with flowers, goblet and dainties
Game piece with poultry
Still life with tazza, stoneware jug, saltcellar and dainties
Still life of fish with a candlestick
Still life of fruit and flowers
Still life with fish, oysters and shrimps