Still Life; Bosschaert, Meléndez, and Peale

Europa (middle panel of the Four Continents) by Jan van Kessel, the Elder
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Europa (middle panel of the Four Continents), 1666, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Meléndez twice petitioned King Charles III to become a court painter and was twice refused. In his petition of 1772, he describes his artistic goals: to create a series of paintings that represent "the four seasons of the year...to decorate a sitting room with all the species of comestibles [food] that the Spanish climate produces."

Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century still life often illustrated such natural history programs. Collectors included still lifes alongside botanical illustrations, shells, rocks, and other treasures from the natural world in their curiosity cabinets. Meléndez must have known of the king's interest in natural history, and his clinical style was perfectly suited to such a scientific task.