![Willem Claesz Heda - Banquet Piece with Mince Pie [1635]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/16026130212_35488f20a6_o.jpg)
Heda's largest known painting appears, at first sight, to extend the hospitality of a sumptuous feast. Yet platters and knives teeter precariously over the table's edge, while goblets and compotes already have toppled. Perishable or expended items symbolise life's transience: a snuffed–out candle, spilled olives, half–eaten minced pie, and a lemon, only half–peeled.
From the 1620s to the late 1640s, Dutch artists preferred monochromatic tones for their still lifes and landscapes. Heda (Dutch, 1593/94 - 1680) was a master of such cool grey or warm tan colour schemes. Here, the gold, silver, pewter, and Venetian glass play against a neutral setting and a white tablecloth. Somewhat later in the mid–1600s, brighter colours would characterise the classical period of Dutch painting.
[National Gallery of Art, Washington - Oil on canvas, 106.7 x 111.1 cm]