Still Life with a Roemer and Watch

The Haarlem painter Heda specialised in ‘ontbijtjes’ and ‘banketjes’ (breakfast and banquet pieces). He worked mainly in brown and grey tints. These sober colours created unity in the composition and blended together the separate components: a fish with capers and lemon, a bread roll, some hazelnuts, wine glasses and a silver drinking cup.

Heda paid a lot of attention to the reflection of light on the various objects, giving each material its own particular sheen. He was a master of this technique.