It is a strong idea, to name it the altar of our civilization. Indeed, we capture beauty in stone and make it immortal while the live beauty at our feet is left to die a pointless death.

Yes, the beauty of the animals is striking. They are fine specimens killed and left behind.

I have a similar image of a wasted sacrifice and the stone stairs do resemble an altar. And at the same time, there seems to be no god that receives the sacrifice...

The first thought that came to me looking at this painting was: Death. An then, as I looked on, the setting became more clear but also puzzling at the same time. The painting is an allegorical composition rather than a captured scene. And this means that each element included has a symbolic significance. The dead animals are dripping off a stone sculpture as disgraced offerings at an altar while in the background a somber and solemn nature is depicted. The animals have deliberately been killed and the rifle lies discarded on the ground. A wasteful death of beautiful and graceful creatures above which stone statues of imaginary beautiful creatures look eternal and immovable. The entire composition makes me think of the sacrifice of youth, beauty and life on the altar of imaginary beauty frozen into eternity into a stone structure.

Vase of Flowers in a stone Niche, gathers a few opposing characteristics which together give the composition weight and depth. On the one hand there is the rigidity of the stone niche: fixed geometric shape, hard material. On the other hand there is the fluidity of the flowers in the vase and the insects crawling about; they have different shapes, they are soft and delicate. The painting captures a snapshot of life in its different forms which exist in the rigid structure of the world, symbolized by the stone. To further my impressions of this painting, I want to focus on the aspect of time rather than the masterfully executed visual aspects. From the perspective of time, we have the longevity of the stone and the efemerity of the plants and the insects. They are all captured in an instantaneous pose and and at the peak of their beauty. But we intuitively know that on a scale of hours, the flowers will lose their poise and vibrant colours. On a scale of days they will wither and die. The insects, in their simbiotic connection to the flowers will either lay their eggs or consume their leaves and petals. But the insects will also grow and die on a sclae of days to weeks. And then there is the stone. The material will last for centuries. Even most of the shape may be maintained. And for all this potentiality of change, the painter captured their beauty of an instant and made it eternal. And this is what art is, in my view: when we capture beauty and life, we claim a piece of eternity.