Still Life with a Lobster

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Still Life with a Lobster

Artist Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Dutch, born 1606, died 1683 or 1684)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Datelate 1640s

DimensionsPainting: 25 × 33 1/4 in. (63.5 × 84.5 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1952.25

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesSammlung Dr. Max Strauss, Wien, 1926, no. 18, engraved, repr.

Würzbach, A., Niederländische Kunstler Lexikon, 1909, vol. I, p. 658.

Sterling, Charles, La Nature Morte de l'Antiquité à Nos Jours, Paris, 1952, p. 49, pl. 42, (col.).

Leymarie, Jean, Dutch Painting, Switzerland, Skira Publications, 1956, p. 173.

Greindl, Edith, Les Peintres Flamands de Nature Morte au XVIIe Siècle, Brussels, 1956, pp. 104, 173, repr. pl. 69.

Canaday, John, Keys to Art, New York, Tudor, 1962, p. 149, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr. (col.).

Koningsberger, Hans, The World of Vermeer, New York, 1967, p. 101, repr. (col.) p. 83.

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 474, repr. (b&w) fig. 19.

Feldman, Edmund Burke, Varieties of Visual Experience, New York, 1971, p. 193, repr.

Greenhill, Eleanor S., Dictionary of Art, New York, 1974, pl. 250, repr. plate 21.

Art News, vol. 74, April 1975, repr. p. 15 (Wildenstein advertisement).

American Art Review, vol. 2, no. 2, March-April 1975, repr. p. 37 (Wildenstein advertisement).

Spencer, Harold, The Image Maker: Man and His Art, New York, 1975, pp. 542-543, repr. fig. 413.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pg. 75, pl. 125.

Lauer, David A., Design Basics, New York, 1979, p. 204, repr.

Sterling, Charles, Still Life Painting, 2nd. rev. ed., New York, 1981, p. 77, repr. pl. 42.

Petit, David A., "A Historical Overview of Dutch and French Still Life Painting: A Guide for the Classroom," Art Education, vol. 41, no. 5, Sept. 1988.

Auffret, Isabelle, "De David de Heem à Johannes Hannot...," in Cuisenier, Jean, Anonymat et signature, Paris, 1989, p. 142, repr. p. 147.

Bryson, Norman, Looking at the Overlooked, London, 1990, pp. 123, 124, fig. 45.

Finkelstein, Irving L., "Goya Lepidopterist," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 122, no. 1499, Dec. 1993, p. 241, fig. 12.

Sayre, Henry M., A World of Art, Englewood Cliffs, 1994, p. 234, fig. 299 (col.).

Katz, Elizabeth L. et. al., Themes and Foundations of Art, Minneapolis, 1995, p. 52, fig. 2-3, p. 53 (col.).

Rowell, Margit, Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life, New York, 1997, repr. p. 15.

Brusati, Celeste, "Natural Artifice and Material Values in Dutch Still Life," in Franits, Wayne E., Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art, Cambridge, 1997, p. 153, fig. 97, p. 154.

Sayre, Henry M., A World of Art, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, 2003, p. 252, fig. 345 (col.) (also included in the 6th ed., 2010).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 24, repr. (col.).

Vries, Gerard de and D. Barton Johnson, Nabokov and the Art of Painting, Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2006, pl. 23 (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, pp. 102-103, repr. (col.) fig. 40.1, p. 102. (This object is incorrectly labeled as 1966.116 on page 102)

Sayre, Henry M., A World of Art, Eighth Edition, Pearson Inc., 2016, p. 557, repr. (col.), Fig. 22-13.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Orangerie, La nature morte de l'antiquité à nos jours, 1952, no. 47 (cat. by C. Sterling).

Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, Trends in Painting, 1600-1800, 1957, p. 36, repr. p. 37.

New York, Wildenstein, The Object as Subject: Still Life Paintings from the 17th to the 20th Century, 1975, no. 36.

Cincinnati, Taft Museum, Best of Fifty, 1977, p. [50], repr. (col.).

Vienna, Kunsthistorishes Museum; Essen, Villa Hugel, Das flamische Stilleben, 1550-1680, 2002, no. 88, p. 264, repr. p. 265 (col.) and 366.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Bergström, Ingar, Dutch Still Life Painting, New York, 1956, p. 204, fig. 171. Undated picture in the Royal Castle, Stockholm, with strong similarites to TMA Lobster. Bergström dates it about 1648; TMA picture rather richer and could easily be somewhat later.Label TextJan Davidsz. de Heem presents a table over-laden with luscious ripe fruits, an expensive imported lobster, and fine glass and silver ware that suggest luxury and indulgence of the senses. There was a cultural perception in the 1600s that the Dutch were frugal, hard-working, and modest—but by the middle of the century, it was being said (especially in the pulpits) that these habits were being replaced by shows of “worldly vanity and luxury.” Still life paintings of sumptuous meals offered an opportunity to indulge the eyes with irresistibly appealing textures and colors. At the same time the image imparts a cautionary note: the prominent pocket watch with its eye-catching blue silk ribbon reminds the viewer that time flies, and such luxuries and abundance don’t last forever, so be sure to pay more attention to the needs of the soul than to the desires of the body.