Cezanne’s Jug and Fruit and Zurbaran’s Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose.

Look carefully at Illustration Book Plate 1.3.24, Cezanne’s Jug and Fruit (1885-87), and Plate 1.3.30 Zurbaran’s Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (1633). Identify what you think are the main differences between them.


Cezanne’s ‘Jug and Fruit’ (1885-87 Illustration Book Plate 1.3.24) and Zurbaran’s ‘Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose’ (1633 Illustration Book Plate 1.3.30) are ‘still life’ paintings of similar objects, but are quite dissimilar in style and technique providing the viewer with quite different experiences.   Paul Cezanne an artist in the nineteenth century was an Impressionist/Post-Impressionist, whereas Francisco de Zurbaran was a Spanish Baroque painter of the seventeenth century and was known more for his painting of religious narratives.

One of the differences between the two paintings is the unique style of each of the artists. Cezanne’s still life painting has a more natural style, which has ignored the rules. In contrast Zurbaran has worked within specific guidelines making his painting more regimented and less experimental. Cezanne has made use of the paint to create an impression of what he sees rather than paying attention to detail, whereas Zurbaran’s painting is about detail, for example, the detail of the wicker basket and the indentations on the lemons. Still life paintings are often designed to be symbolic (Pacheco 2008) and Zurbaran’s style allows the viewer to look for meaning; however Cezanne’s painting lacks such potential thus allowing the viewer to ponder on his distinctive technique instead (Pacheco 2008).

In addition to the artists’ distinctive styles, there are also differences in their composition.   Cezanne’s painting is organised by colour and shape and is less concerned with the correct perspective. His painting presents a disordered arrangement of contrasting shapes and colours, thus avoiding the appearance of lines. Rather than painting the objects proportionate in size to the other objects, he...