Still Life with Asparagus and Red Currants

Adriaen Coorte

National Gallery of Art

A bundle of pale green, thick asparagus stalks bound by twine and a bunch of glistening ruby-red currants sit on the edge of a stone table or ledge against a deeply shadowed background in this vertical still life painting. The asparagus is situated with the jagged, broken edges facing our left and the pointed tips angled away from us to our right. The base of the stalks are nearly cream-white, and the tips are faint green and muted purple. To our right, one the two stems of the red currant berries and leaves dangles off the front edge of the table. Light spills onto the scene from our upper left giving the currants a glassy sheen. The stone ledge or table is cracked in a couple of places. The artist signed this work as if he had inscribed his name and the date on the front surface of the table: “A. Coorte. 1696.”