Still Life with Drinking-Horn, about 1653
by Willem Kalf (1619–1693)
The National Gallery, London

For 2011/12, the one-day 'Take One Picture' Continuing Professional Development courses, run by National Gallery Education, will focus on ‘Still Life with Drinking-Horn’ by Willem Kalf.

Using the focus painting as a springboard, the 'Take One Picture' course will inspire teachers to look at ways of using paintings in the classroom to promote cross-curricular learning and suggest 'ways in' to paintings to develop pupils' confidence and skill in responding to images.

Kalf’s still-life painting shows a collection of objects that celebrate life’s pleasures and luxuries. It also displays the artist’s pleasure and skill in the manipulation of colour, light and painted surfaces.

The glowing orange-red lobster dominates the painting, with its extraordinary shape and eye that fixes you at the centre of the composition. This is contrasted with the yellow-white of the lemon, artfully peeled to reveal both the pith and the fruit. A knife, the principal table implement of the time, lies beside it jutting out over the edge of the table. Four glasses catch the light; if we look carefully at the glass on the left, it seems to be reflecting a window, which must be the source of light, and we get tantalising hints of the rest of the room. Curving upwards is a buffalo horn expensively mounted in silver.

The drinking-horn, made in 1565, still exists and is on show at the Historisch Museum in Amsterdam. It belonged to the Saint Sebastian Archers who were the likely patrons of the painting. On special occasions the officers would gather to feast and the horn would be filled with wine and ceremoniously passed among them.

A display of work produced by schools based on this painting will be shown at the National Gallery in Summer 2013, and a selection will be published on this website. To be considered for the gallery display, submit examples of how a whole class or school has used the picture in a cross-curricular way (no original work please) to the Education Department by Monday 5 November 2012.

© The National Gallery, London

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