A Still Life with Fruit, Dead Game and a Parrot
- Artist: Jan Fyt
- Date: late 1640s
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "A Still Life with Fruit, Dead Game and a Parrot" painted in the Flemish style. The painting is probably by Jan Fyt, who was known for his still life, animal, and flower paintings. What we have here is a composition of opposites, placed side by side - flora and fauna, and life and death. Take a look at that parrot perched on top of the basket of fruit. It's playfully pinching a strand of grapevine in its beak. But just below it, you'll see three dead birds: a brace of partridges and a jay.
The artist has used contrasting colours to highlight these opposites - the blood red velvet table cover next to the pure white cloth. And look at those juicy claret-coloured grapes on the same horizontal plane as the hare's bleeding wound. This might be more than just a coincidence, it could be a reference to the Eucharist and the blood of Christ.
See it in person
A Still Life with Fruit, Dead Game and a Parrot hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
