After Jan Van Huysum (1682-1749)
 Still life with fruits
 (1724)
 Oil on copper
 Signed lower left, “Jan Van Huijsum Fecit”
 21 x 27 cm
 Mauritshuis, The Hague

 Recreation
 Oil on copper
 30 x 20 cm
 Detail
 Not available

 The unruly in painting.
 Copper, a fleeting medium. The brush slides, slides, on the metal. Pigments and binders want to escape. They spread. They must be contained, brought back.
 The hairs slip, infiltrate and end up rolling. Out-of-control gestures, cascading impressions of debacle, of shipwreck of the painter. But what exhilaration to paint like this in butter: feeling of smoothness, sensuality of the hand that caresses its support, that models the plum, that shapes it and enhances it with points, spots, streaks.
 The grapes clump together, jostle each other, translucent, full of yellow and white. A redcurrant sticks there; the light from a window reflects on it.
 The glazes follow one another, time passes. Then the drops that pearl, last flourish on copper, sparkle of metal. The plum has just been washed, it is just waiting to be eaten.