Still Life with Books, Hercules Segers, c. 1618 - c. 1622
line etching, possibly a counterproof, printed in bluish-green on cotton prepared with a cream-coloured, lead-based ground, coloured with paint in transparent grey, semi-transparent brown and opaque black, h c.93mm × w c.205mm Catalogue entry
While Segers’ stack of books looks unassuming enough, it is entirely original, and may even be the earliest still life in European graphic art. While still lifes frequently feature in 17th-century paintings, they are rarely found in black-and-white (in prints).
