Room 23

A metal jug, a glass and the edge of a pie can hold your attention as effectively as a human face. The still lifes here show painters testing how to describe reflections, transparent surfaces and things with very different textures. Haarlem grew as merchants and skilled workers moved north from the southern Netherlands during war and religious upheaval. Buyers with money to spend helped support portraits, landscapes and scenes of social life. Pictures made for houses found subjects close to their owners’ experience. Take one of the painted tables piece by piece, then step back to see how those separate objects have been arranged into a whole.