Fruit Still Life

This picture is about the size of a sheet of writing paper, 21 by 27 centimetres, and it is painted on copper. Van Huysum chose the metal for a reason. A copper plate has a hard, smooth surface, with no weave of canvas and no grain of wood, and that suits exactly this kind of small, precise work. On a marble tabletop lie plums, grapes and berries, and the main part goes to a peach. A small white butterfly has settled on it, and an ant is crawling across its soft skin. Van Huysum signed the plate on the front edge of the marble table, at the lower right.