The purpose of these essays is to mine the complexity and expressive richness of still-life painting, traditionally considered one of the lesser genres. Although theorists have commented on the appeal of still life since antiquity, its status has risen only recently, when the priorities of art history and criticism have been reordered to validate areas outside the canon of traditional inquiry.

Here six distinguished scholars interpret a wide range of still lifes, using diverse current methods, including paleo-ethnobotanical research (which makes it possible to reconstruct diets), social history, technical examinations, and material culture studies.

The introduction provides a historiography of still life with an emphasis on the twentieth century. The essays' scope is wide, encompassing sixteenth- to twentieth-century European and American painting, graphics, the applied arts, book illustration, sculpture, and photography. The common denominator is a focus on the implications of the things - foodstuffs, tableware, plaster statuettes, books - that form the subject matter of the images.

Scrutinizing those objects and their significance, the writers enhance understanding of the objects themselves, the images in which they figure, and the minds and cultures that produced both.