A still life is a work of
art
depicting a collection of usually inanimate objects, typically
natural -- (flowers, game, sea shells and so on) -- or man-made
domestic items -- (drinking glasses, foodstuffs, pipes, books
and so on). Popular in Western art since the
17th century,
still life
paintings
give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design
elements within a composition than do paintings of other types
of subjects such as
landscape
or
portraiture.
Still life paintings often adorn the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. It was believed that the foodstuffs and other items depicted there would, in the afterlife, become real and available for use by the deceased. Similar paintings, more simply decorative in intent, have also been found in the Roman frescoes unearthed at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The popular appreciation of still life painting as a demonstration of the artist's skill is related in the ancient Greek legend of Zeuxis and Parrhasius.