Still Life with Travelling Trunk

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Leonard Bramer spent most of his professional career traveling throughout the Netherlands, France, and Italy, and he was deeply influenced by the dramatic chiaroscuro paintings of Caravaggio. Although primarily known as a painter and draftsman of history and religious scenes, he created a handful of still lifes, each with a moralizing theme. Here, the overturned wine glass, open trunk, money, and playing cards represent the transience of life. Unlike his peer Rembrandt, Bramer made very few prints; only one signed work survives. This still life, previously thought to have been etched by Bramer, is now believed to be after one of his lost paintings. A print tacked up onto the wall in a haphazard fashion serves to explain why so many prints from the 17th century have not survived to the present day.

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