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In addition to the Roemer goblet, other glasses common in this kind of monochrome still life presented here include the Berkemeyer, in this case tipped over and broken, and the delicate Façon-de-Venise wineglass, in fashion at the time and likewise made in the Netherlands. Also featured is an exquisitely decorated silver goblet. Alongside them is a knife with a sheath and an open clock that
This still life forms part of the group of paintings Vroom dubbed monochrome banketjes or monochrome still lifes which were started in 1629 by Willem Claesz. Heda, but which Pieter Claesz. cultivated with equal mastery, to the point that these two painters are considered its leading exponents. The work is dated 1637 and signed with Claesz´s typical monogram and the enigmatic word TÉNESIUS I
Steenwijck brings to the vanitas a genre in which he specialised, according to the surviving inventories -the compositional structure, scheme, colour range and lighting characteristic of the so-called monochrome banketjes or monochrome still lifes of Willem Claesz. Heda (P2754, P2655 and P2756) and Pieter Claesz. (P2753). Accordingly, the objects are arranged on a simple wooden table that is half
The painting belongs to the type of still life designated by Vroom as monochrome banketjes, pieces first executed by Heda towards the end of the 1620s that became very popular in the Netherlands and abroad, as illustrated by the fact that there were two in the inventory of Rubens´s property. There are sufficient grounds to interpret these compositions as moralising, religious or allegorical works.
As in the case of those two paintings (P02755 y P02756), Still Life with Beer-pitcher and Orange belongs to the typology defined by Vroom (1980) as monochrome banketje. Traditionally, this picture has been attributed to Willem Claesz. Heda. However, there are a number of stylistic aspects that distance it from the still lifes painted by this artist in the 1630s. Firstly, the monotone colouring bas
