Still Life with Dead Hare, 1703 Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-1660)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Jan Baptist Weenix also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting Still Life with Dead Hare is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

In Jan Baptist Weenix’s "Still Life with Dead Hare" (1703), we find a haunting tableau of life interrupted, an almost theatrical arrangement of death surrounded by symbols of abundance. At the center hangs a hare, suspended from one leg, its fur rendered with such meticulous care that you can almost feel its softness, even as its lifeless form suggests the violence of the hunt. The body is limp, draped as if posed in reverence to nature’s finality, yet there’s a certain defiance here - a sense of beauty lingering in death, of vitality held even as life has slipped away.

The painting’s color palette is rich and grounded in earthy tones. The hare’s tawny fur, a blend of ochre and deep shadows, stands in stark contrast to the muted grays and greens of the grand, carved urn in the background. This urn is no ordinary object; adorned with classical figures, it hints at both the elegance and decay of a world that once worshipped such gods. Weenix juxtaposes this man-made monument with the organic, ephemeral quality of the animals and fruit that populate the scene - pheasants, doves, and a dizzying assortment of ripe grapes, pears, and pomegranates. Each piece of fruit is ripe to bursting, their skins painted with a tactile gloss that makes them almost glow against the dark background.

In terms of technique, Weenix is masterful, layering light and shadow to heighten the textural contrasts. The softness of the hare’s fur, the taut skin of grapes, the delicate feathers of a pheasant - all are rendered with a clarity that brings out the tactile qualities of each element. He plays with chiaroscuro here, the deep shadows almost swallowing parts of the scene while spotlighting others, guiding our gaze from the hanging hare to the scattered fruits. The arrangement feels almost like a stage set, the objects carefully placed to create a sense of opulence tinged with decay.

"Still Life with Dead Hare" is as much about absence as it is about presence. This isn’t merely a display of hunting trophies; it’s a meditation on the ephemeral nature of life, a reminder of the cycles of abundance and death. By placing these symbols of life and death side by side, Weenix invites us to reflect on the fragility of existence, the inevitability of time passing. The scene may seem opulent, but there’s a solemnity beneath the surface, a quiet reflection on mortality. In this painting, beauty and decay coexist, woven together in a way that feels both inevitable and profound.