Still Life with Ewer, Vessels, and Pomegranate

Willem Kalf painted this in the mid-1640s, while he was living in Paris, and it stands over a metre tall. An ornate Mannerist ewer of finely wrought metal rises over a table crowded with luxuries, a tall steeple cup, fine glass, and a platter holding a tankard whose polished surface reflects the wineglass beside it. On white linen lie an opened pomegranate and a bowl of fruit, and to the right a silver plate rests precariously on the table's edge. Kalf made every surface feel different, the smooth glass, the weave of the linen, the dry, crumbly bread and the wet, shining inside of the pomegranate. At first the table seems untouched by anyone. Look again. The bread has been torn, a glass stands half empty, the fruit has been cut and another glass lies overturned, as if the people eating here had got up suddenly and left everything where it was.