Flemish painters started specialising in this genre in the 16th century. They depicted arranged displays of everything from shells, books, food and drink, crockery, skulls and dead animals to flowers and insects – sometimes with a human figure in the background. These paintings literally brought life to a standstill. Separate specialisms soon emerged within the broader genre. Rachel Ruysch mainly painted flowers, while Pieter Claesz and Willem Heda preferred arrangements of food and tableware. Another variant is the vanitas still life, which alludes to the impermanence of life and the material world, and usually features a human skull.
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