Around 1615, Flemish artist Clara Peeters painted Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels. It's quite a striking work, albeit quite conventional even in its beauty. There is cheese, almonds, pretzels, curls of butter, figs and a bread roll; pretty standard still-life luxury of the era. Peeters was quite significant, though, as she was one of the few women artists who worked professionally in 17th Europe, and "despite restrictions on women's access to artistic training and membership in guilds," was one of the well-known painters of the era.
And this painting isn't just a still-life. Peeters' Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels contains an incredible hidden detail, and here in our final installment of a 5-week summer collaboration between the Sotheby's Institute of Art and our Jux Saturday School series, we get insight into all the additions Peeters created into the work that make it so special.
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