Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber

Juan Sánchez Cotán’s remarkable still life suspends a quince, a cabbage, a halved melon, and a cucumber against a deep black background, each object isolated as if in its own world of light. Painted with the meditative intensity of a Carthusian monk — the artist entered a monastery in 1603 — the arrangement is both a study of form and a contemplation of the divine order in humble things. It is one of the most radical and beloved bodegones of the Spanish Baroque.