On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Fruits and Shells on a Ledge
Balthasar van der Ast Dutch
Van der Ast belonged to a close-knit group of innovative still-life painters in the Dutch city of Zeeland, a major center for the colonial trading of the Dutch East India Company. He was particularly known for his rendering of shells, flowers, and insects, often arranged on an illusionistic shelf that seems to appeal almost as much to the sense of touch as to sight. The insects that buzz and flutter around the overripe fruit animate the surface of this well-preserved painting, guiding the eye to skip across the asymmetrical composition.
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