As a nobleman, this Ghent flower and animal painter was not a member of the painters’ guild. For his technique, he was indebted to Jan Fijt who, after travelling through Italy, introduced a warmer earth-coloured palette, as well as powerful impasto paintwork and strong contrasts, into the Flemish still life tradition. This Italianate way of working became the dominant style in Flanders during the second half of the seventeenth century. In this still life, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, pears and plums are arranged on a rock at the foot of a dark landscape. Frans Van Cuyck’s brushwork is here more subdued than that of Fijt. This brings him, despite the smoother, more conservative finish, closer to the work of Pieter Boel.
