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Still Life with Game Fowl

Still life painting of dead waterfowl and vegetables in windowsill.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Still life painting of dead waterfowl and vegetables in windowsill.

Date:

1600/03

Artist:

Juan Sánchez Cotán
Spanish, 1560–1627

About this artwork

The very few still lifes by Juan Sánchez Cotán depict commonplace foodstuffs in shallow niches whose dark interiors evoke the pantries (bodegones) of Spanish homes. Here the produce on the ledge and the quince, cabbage, and game birds hanging above appear precisely arranged in almost mathematical harmony.

This work is the earliest European still life in the Art Institute’s collection. Sánchez Cotán stopped creating these austere compositions after 1603, when he dedicated himself to working at the Cistercian monastery of Granada. The artist’s work was only rediscovered in the 20th century, in part through the efforts of August L. Mayer (1885–1944), a German scholar who helped reawaken critical interest in Spanish art and who once owned this painting.

Status

On View, Gallery 211

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Juan Sánchez Cotán

Title

Still Life with Game Fowl

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1600–1603

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

67.8 × 88.7 cm (26 11/16 × 34 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block

Reference Number

1955.1203

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/84709/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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