Kitchen Still Life with metal Vessels,

As one of the first Dutch still life painters, Cornelis Delff developed a special mastery in depicting metal kitchen utensils. Here, he demonstrates his virtuosity in capturing highly finished surfaces as well as the play of light on the water in the vessels. To great effect, he exploits the painterly contrasts between the different textures of the wrought-iron metalwork and the duck’s soft plumage. The architectural backdrop is reminiscent of earlier “kitchen paintings” in which a biblical or historical plot provided the pictorial pretext for the lifelike representation of the material world