#tomb of menna seris

[ahaura]

The Hunter's Daughter (c. 1422–1411 BC) via the Ancient Egyptian collection Tomb of Menna (1422–1390 BC) wall and panel painting

[joedphotography]

Still Life 21st jan 2021

History

ANCIENT ART

The earliest known still life paintings were created by the Egyptians in the 15th century BCE. Funerary paintings of food—including crops, fish, and meat—have been discovered in ancient burial sites. The most famous ancient Egyptian still-life was discovered in the Tomb of Menna, a site whose walls were adorned with exceptionally detailed scenes of everyday life.

Ancient Greeks and Romans also created similar depictions of inanimate objects. While they mostly reserved still life subject matter for mosaics, they also employed it for frescoes, like Still Life with Glass Bowl of Fruit and Vases, a 1st-century wall painting from Pompeii.

MIDDLE AGES

During the Middle Ages, artists adapted the still life for religious purposes. In addition to incorporating symbolic arrangements into depictions of Biblical scenes, they also used them to decorate illuminated manuscripts. Objects like coins, seashells, and bushels of fruit can be found in the borders of these books, including the elaborately decorated Hours of Catherine of Cleves from the 15th century.

RENAISSANCE

Northern Renaissance artists popularized still life iconography with their flower paintings. These pieces typically showcase colorful flora “from different countries and even different continents in one vase and at one moment of blooming” (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and often do not feature other subject matter. These paintings rose to prominence in the early 17th century, when Northern Renaissance artists grew increasingly interested in creating realistic studies of everyday items.

MODERN ART

The still life remained a popular feature in many modern art movements. While Impressionist artists like Pierre-Auguste Renoir dabbled in the genre, it made its major modern debut during the Post-Impressionist period, when Vincent van Gogh adopted flower vases as his subject and Cézanne painted a famous series of still lifes featuring apples, wine bottles, and water jugs resting on topsy-turvy tabletops.

https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-still-life-painting-definition/

[ahaura]

Girl with flowers c. 1422–1411 BC via the Ancient Egyptian collection Tomb of Menna (1422–1390 BC) wall and panel painting

[ahaura]

Mother with Child c. 1422–1411 BC The Ancient Egyptian collection Tomb of Menna (1422–1390 BC) wall and panel painting