What does Still Life mean?
Still Life is a pictorial representation of inanimate objects such as flowers, fruits, skulls, candles, jugs, wine bottles and other objects which represent ephemeral earthly pleasures. It is the most humble genre of classical times which originated in legendary painting competition. It is said that the Greek painter Zeuxis painted a bunch of grapes which were so real that birds came and pecked at them. His rival, Parrhasios, painted a curtain on top of the bunch of grapes when no one was looking. Zeuxis tried to lift the curtain and lost the competition. It emerged as an independent genre during the Renaissance but was considered inferior to portraits or allegories.