Still Life with Oysters, Rum Glass, and Silver Cup by Willem Claesz Heda. Located in Museum Boijmans-Van Beuringen in Rotterdam.
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- "Still Life With Oysters" was completed during the Baroque period. Still life paintings were characteristically northern. This piece portrays the wealth and abundance of the Dutch. Images of accumulated material goods were a source of pride and a way to establish one's place in society.
- In "Still Life With Oysters" Heda portrayed the wealth of the Dutch, but at the same time incorporated a religious message. This sense of religious piety was central to Calvinist beliefs in the north. Heda was able to accomplish this religious message by including references to death and the fragility of human life. The oysters, partially peeled fruit, broken glass, and the tipped silver cup are symbols of mortality and death.
- This is one of my favorite Baroque pieces because it portrays a new outlook towards material items, while at the same time incorporating a moral question. Paintings that make me look beneath the surface are the ones that will become, and stay, my favorites. The message within this still life is the heart of the entire piece.
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