 This lecture is entitled Yandaheem and the Baroque Still Life or What on Earth is a Prank? Now Yandaheem, who you see depicted on this screen here in this portrait was yet another of the leading still life painters working in the Netherlands and he's famous for creating this new kind of still life and it's called a Prank still life and we'll take a look in just a minute at a prank still life and see exactly what that's all about But first I just wanted to say There's something interesting you should note about Yandaheem and that is he actually worked in both Holland and Flanders now we've been looking at Flemish art, which is the art of Flanders Flemish and As you should know Flanders was Catholic and we're gonna be looking at Dutch art in the coming units and Dutch art is the art of Holland So he's an interesting figure to look at right now because he kind of bridged the gap between these distinct places one Catholic one Protestant with a very different set of cultural moors guiding them So now let's take a look at an example of Yandaheem's still life painting Alright, so this is a characteristic still life by Yandaheem and it's a still life with fruit and a parrot and it dates to 1650 and By this middle point in the century still lifes Had become even more lavish than the ones we've looked at so far They became really over-the-top and These really over-the-top still lifes are known simply as prunk That is what a prunk still life is and prunk means Ostentatious and essentially they are Ostentatious displays of wealth and extravagance and luxury So hopefully when you looked at this still life right away You might have noticed a few things about it that might have caught your eye and said you said to yourself Okay, this is this is a really luxurious still life and even if nothing caught your eye right away I'll point out a few things to you and and I think help you See exactly what it is that's different about this from some of the still lifes we've looked up before So what we have here obviously we have you know what you would expect to see in a still life and that there's food There's perishable items We have a lot of grapes We have meat we have oysters We have oranges And then of course we have the objects that go along with that Goblets and pitchers and trays and then we have this parrot which is an interesting addition because That's more of an object of curiosity It's not so much a food stuff But an interesting objects and then musical instruments and these rich overflowing curtains so things that we're used to seeing in a still life, but what's Unique about this still life and certainly to the contemporary viewer it would have been a lot easier to read this these items Really just scream luxury luxury luxury just over-the-top wealth And that's because a lot of these objects are import luxury items not things that a typical Flemish or Dutch person would see every day. So the oysters for example In the bird is a very exotic imported Curious curious object Even things like Citrus fruits oranges and lemons we take those for granted you go to the grocery store You can buy a whole big bag of them and not spend a lot of money in the 17th century They were a luxury object that weren't so easy to get your hands on So again, this is Ostentatious or it would have been very ostentatious to the contemporary viewer and Maybe it'll help you if you replace some of these Objects in the painting at least mentally with things that you think of as extreme luxury items imagine instead of oranges if those were iPods Sitting here on the tray and if instead of grapes. This is overflowing with caviar and Maybe you've got some expensive designer handbags Overflowing on this tabletop you get the point right these that's Essentially what these items were to this culture at the time Another interesting thing about this. It's not only Ostentatious and luxurious in what's depicted but the way it's depicted is over the top as well Again, we have tremendous attention to detail in textures I like this detail over here for example You can see a reflection of a window in this glass so really captured that sense of light reflecting off of glass You can see that up here as well So that same attention to texture and detail and color But even the way the artist has assembled these items suggests luxury. I mean if these items are so Expensive It's almost surprising to us that they would be assembled in such a careless way. They're just kind of strewn Across this tabletop. It doesn't seem like a lot of care has been given to them Which even suggests more wealth if someone can be so careless with such luxury items So that's a very deliberate thing yandaheem has done here as well is displayed the items in a way that suggests no care the true sign of Wealth what final point I just wanted to ask you about is where do you think this scene is located I Asked because there's this whole interesting side of the painting over here and the Seem seems to be set in front of a broken Wall it almost seems like an ancient ruin or something the way the walls crumbled at the top there And there's vines growing along it and then there's this expansive view into a really beautiful Almost idealized landscape And that's a really interesting detail. It's I think it's interesting that he chose to depict His objects against this kind of setting Because it kind of removes it from the ordinary even furthering that sense of luxury and almost puts it in a Dream-like mystical setting. It's not a home an ordinary place. You would recognize And let's scroll down for a second Hopefully you recognize the image on the right which is Franz Snyder's market stall It's in stark contrast to This image as well. It's not in an identifiable commercial space. It's in this abstract again almost mystical magical Neverland So I think that's a really interesting detail that adds to that sense of luxury and ostentatiousness I wanted to close today by comparing this to The image that should hopefully be very familiar to you by now Clara Peters It's her still life that we looked at a while ago now And I want you to try and ask yourself, you know, what how are these similar? How are these different? And I won't guide you I want to leave you with this you can pause it So you can keep the images on the screen, but ask yourself What are some important differences between these and what makes Yandaheem's more luxurious and ostentatious perhaps than Clara Peters image. So enjoy making your observations