Courtesy of Hood Museum of Art

Hidden Symbolism

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Courtesy of Hood Museum of Art

De Heem’s painting offers much more than knowledge of the physical world, however. Like many other still-life paintings from the period, it contains a hidden symbolism. The many objects in the picture can be appreciated for what they are—products of nature or art—but to a seventeenth-century viewer they also revealed a specifically Christian meaning. The grapes, wine, wheat stalks, and corn are traditional symbols of the Eucharist; the peach is a symbol of salvation; the many insects, because of their short life spans, collectively refer to death. The Eucharistic meaning of the painting is emphasized especially by the goblet in the center of the composition: framed by a stone arch just barely visible in the painting’s background, it is given pride of place as if it were a chalice containing the Communion wine. The meaning of Christ’s sacrifice also is suggested by the cascading arrangement of the grapes, wheat stalks, and corn, especially in relation to the nails depicted in the upper left and right corners of the picture. perhaps an allusion to the lowering of Christ’s body from the cross, it also brings to mind Christ’s words in John 12:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” a masterful combination of Christian content and superbly rendered forms, Still-Life with Grapes encourages the viewer to ponder the central mystery of Christianity as it celebrates objects of the material world.

Joy Kenseth