Sindy Mercado

October 20, 2015           

Professor Cristina Villa

Uffizi Gallery: Close Reading Painting

The painting I have chosen to analyze is Still Life by Abraham Mignon, which appears to have been painted in the second half of the seventeenth century. Mignon’s still life painting exemplifies his distinct style, which entails precise detail and drawing. To achieve this he utilizes bright colors and an elaborate composition through the arrangement of the visual elements depicted as fruits, bread, wine, clams, nuts, etc. He has arranged the painting in such a way that both their shapes and vivid colors complement each other with an easy naturalness. This bouquet of fruit seems to be located in a stone niche depicted by the rounded arch that highlights the niche apart from the dark background. The dark background is significant because it is the contrast between the vividness of the fruits whose details, colors, shapes and texture further stand out. If you look closely into the painting you can observe there is a piece of bread and wine next to each other symbolizing the idea that they are the staples in the human diet. The bread has also been half eaten, there are keys hanging and a burning pipe, which indicates that there was a human being present and has currently left.