Distinctive for its minimalist conception, this composition of a loaf of bread, a roasted fowl, a glass of wine and a lemon characterise Flegel’s activity in the 1630s, together with the reduced composition and pared back palette. During this period, Flegel placed greater focus on areas of vibrant red and pure white, isolated against a plain dark background.
The apparent simplicity of the composition belies little of Flegel’s actual working process. As noted by Anne-Dore Ketelsen-Volkhardt, the artist often adapted elements during painting in his yearning for the perfect arrangement of still life elements (op. cit., p. 203). In the larger half of the lemon, a pentiment reveals that Flegel presumably moved the fruit so as to align it better with the knife and complete the series of cleverly arranged diagonals that give the painting additional depth. Silhouetted against a black background dominating almost half of the composition, Flegel plays with the textures and contrasting reflections of the fowl on the silver platter, the skin of the lemon, the crust of the bread and the light shimmering on surface of the façon de venise.Three tiny fields of light appear on the surface of the wine, which reflect a window beyond the picture plane that provides the source of light for the scene. The relatively muted palette of these components contrasts with the vibrant vase of flowers, particularly the rich red of the peony and yellows and pinks of the petunias, which further reveal Flegel’s close observation of nature. The iris forms the crown of the bouquet, illustrating why this flower was considered an emblem of Christ, the Trinity and redemption.
The appeal of Flegel’s works suggests not only their desirability on compositional and technical grounds but the myriad ways a viewer might interpret them in light of his or her own sensibilities and place in society. The prominent inclusion of bread and wine may well have resonated with his patrons, who likely would have associated these elements with the Eucharist. Others may have delighted in the vanitas allusions of the wilting and blooming flowers, which, much like lemons, called to mind the deceptive allure of transient earthly goods.
Flegel was born in Olmütz (Olomouc), Moravia, the son of a shoemaker, and not being a Roman Catholic, probably moved to Vienna after 1580, when the Counter-Reformation began to take effect in Olmütz. In Vienna he became the assistant of Lucas van Valckenborch the Elder, whom he subsequently followed to Frankfurt, then an important centre for art dealing and publishing. He provided staffage in Valckenborch's paintings of the seasons and portraits, inserting fruit, table utensils and flowers as still-life set pieces. His faithful reproduction of flowers and fruit drew on watercolours by Dürer, still-life painters from the Netherlands living in Frankfurt, and botanical and zoological illustrations by Joris Hoefnagel, Pieter van der Borcht IV and Carolus Clusius. Hoefnagel's illustrations clearly served as the pattern for artists such as Flegel, and led to the earliest pure still lifes being produced in cities such as Prague, Florence, Antwerp and Frankfurt, all of which were centres of scientific study and publishing.
Ketelsen-Volkhardt and Fred G. Meijer both date the present work to circa 1630-1635, comparable to works in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg and Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
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