A Still Life Of A Pie And Sliced Lemon On Pewter Dishes, A Vase Of Flowers, A Glass Of Beer And A Wine Glass Upon A Partly Draped Table by Frans Ykens

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If you remember newspaper and billboard advertisements of good-looking accessories such as handcrafted collectibles, you will know how affluent senses can be tickled in a still life painting or a close up. It is not easy for painters, as tickling of the senses requires perfection and style, which are relatively easier to achieve by camera in a studio. However, for Frans Ykens, the lights had to be replaced with brush strokes and intelligent color play, while he himself played the camera.

The combination of items you see in the painting signify an auspicious occasion. However, it could also part of the daily arrangements for a very wealthy woman. The owner of these items is surely a female because men who love bingeing, would rarely chance upon wine, beer and a slice of lemon – that too on a petri dish! Even if the entire arrangement is for two people on an occasion, there is a woman in it – and the consumers could be a couple as well.

You often hear one say ‘the woman has some taste’ – and whether it is a man or a woman in question, chances are that the person has a little wealth to squander. When you see nicely arranged items, with a certain degree of excess, it becomes easy to derive that flaunting is in. While gluttony rose to its peak in Europe through the Modern Age, the western world was for the first time beginning to bring grandeur inside the house. Before such a time, grandeur stayed in churches and palaces, while homes would be similar to peasant cottages. However, the arrangement of food items in a tasteful manner, with the use of glassware in cutlery is telling enough about the housekeeper. I am sure this is not from a palace because the arrangement would be grander with a neatly draped table.

The way the table has been set, you could smell a woman’s care, but it also seems to be partly served by a man who stays with the woman. Ykens lived in the 17^th Century, while he remained surrounded with eclectic beauty and the pleasure of artistic excellence, later elaborated in works like Madonna and Child surrounded by a Garland of Flowers.