Art Throb # 11: Still Life with Fish and Cat (after 1620), by Clara Peeters (c.1594 - c.1657)

Clara Peeters (c.1594-c.1657), Still Life withFish and Cat (after 1620)

Oil on canvas, 34.3 x 47 cm

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC

Another painting that includes a cat among its iconography. What makes it particularly interesting to me, in addition to it having been created by a woman, is that it's a still life: I don't know about anyone else but having tried to take photos of Vincenzo, he's always anything but still. I doubt this cat remained still enough among all that fish for very long at all; it must have been a sketch that was incorporated among the rest of the imagery, or perhaps the rest of the imagery was constructed around the cat. The fact that it's a still life containing a cat must make it unusual in subject matter and technique.

Nevertheless, it sits very firmly in the tradition of the still life – Clara Peeters is even said to be one of its founders. Almost 80 paintings have survived and have been attributed to her, although nothing is known for certain about her artistic training. It is assumed she must have studied under a master (Osias Beert, who was based in Antwerp, is thought to be the most likely possibility. Art historians have also pointed to clues in the arrangements of objects as suggestive of Jan Breughel the Elder).

This painting appears to be one of her most popular. The objects within it are rendered with great precision and detail, layering circular forms with light and shade and contrasting rough and soft textures. The cat is full of expression, his facial fur almost tangible as he crouches with his shiny, slippery fish. The gleaming silver plate next to him complements the silvery skins of the fish, and casts shadows and reflections that lead the eye above to the collander, which adds height. It has been suggested that the positioning of the fish in the collander in a cross-shape is symbolic of Christ's cross (fish being linked with Christ's disciples, some of whom were fishermen). The small fish's head in the middle peeks out like a serpent's head, while the round shape behind (an eel?) curves round like a snake. The detail of the fish is impressive, from the scales and folds and flaps of the gills, with their silvery, slimy wet texture and even the flecks of light in their eyes. The ellipsis of the round objects contrasts with the chipped wooden table edge in the foreground.

Clara Peeters, Self-Portrait (undated)

Oil on panel, 37.5 x 50.2 cm

Whereabouts unknown

Not a lot is known about Clara Peeters, other than she was baptised in Antwerp in 1594 (the circumstances and precise date of her death too are unknown). Nevertheless, it is heartening that a female artist may be considered as one of the founders of the Dutch still life tradition, with a body of work that is nothing short of impressive.