_David de Heem_ (Dutch: 1570-1632).
David de Heem, the elder, born at Utrecht, was the father of
the more celebrated still-life painter of the same name. He and
his son were the founders of the "still-life" school in their
country.
Except for the snail, this brightly-coloured arrangement of oysters, a
lemon, a plum, cherries and nuts, with a glass of wine, is not unlike
the kind of arrangement of actual eatables and drinkables which one
may see to-day in the shop-windows of Italian restaurants in London.
Nor, in all probability, was the motive of the picture different. "The
painting of still-life in Holland," says M. Havard, "was originally
sign-painting. Inn-keepers and game-dealers had real pictures as signs,
painted upon their shop-fronts, and we know of several of these simple
masterpieces which have found their way into important collections"
(_The Dutch School_, p. 260).