Stylistically, you may see similarities with another piece from around this period, namely Five Bananas and Two Pears. Both have modernist ways of depicting their respective content, but all are decipherable without any great difficulty. The shapes are familiar and the colour schemes are broadly accurate to real life. We can spot the fruit bowl straight away, as we can the plate. There are some pairs placed directly onto the surface of the table and also a number of other additions which are a little less clear. Shading is used to add some shadow and texture to most of the objects in this still life, and that might have actually been achieved with touches of pencil or charcoal after the oil had dried, though most likely it was an additional layer of darker oil.
To the best of our knowledge, this painting now resides within a private collection and that perhaps explains how it is lesser known than some of Braque's other paintings from this period. Exposure remains an important tool today, even all these years after the artist passed away. Allowing access to an artwork ensures it remains popular amongst any artist's overall oeuvre, which sometimes can run into hundreds, if not thousands of paintings, drawings, perhaps even sculptures. Most of the highlights from Braque's career are displayed in major, public art galleries within Europe, though occasionally new items are re-discovered and these tend to be made available through private auctions, hence their existence now in private collections.
Braque was an artist who continually changed his style over time. He was a fauvist for several years, working on a number of bright landscape scenes within the southern France region of L'Estaque. Those palettes featured bright oranges, yellows, pinks and purples and left an assault on the eyes which could never be forgotteon. Then his later cubist pieces were more subdued, dark browns and greys being used to force the viewer to concentrate more on form and style than colour. The item found here was an early work that sits outside of both of those approaches.
