Has been depicted in mythological and religious paintings, in still life, vanities, allegories, in the genre painting. From Caravaggio and Rubens to Millet, through Vermeer, Delacroix, Manet, Moreau …

2. Has been depicted
in mythological and religious paintings, in still life, vanities, allegories, in the genre painting.
From Caravaggio and Rubens to Millet, through Vermeer, Delacroix, Manet, Moreau …

3. Wicker basket
in European paintings

4. The Bible tells the story of Moses, rescued from the waters of the Nile in a wicker basket …

7. a wicker basket on the Nile ...
the infant Moses floats in his basket on the Nile, surrounded by the ruins of ancient Egypt,
a background symbolizing
the ancient, pre-Jewish, decaying ...
and Moreau’s hope
the contrast between
“this people of mummies, sphinxes, and gods with staring eyes and unmoving gaze”
and
“this fine human fruit full of sap and life”
Moses is new life, new Judeo-Christian beliefs, new law, and the new regime
Gustave Moreau
Moïse Exposé sur le Nil ou Le nourrisson Moïse
The Infant Moses
El niño Moisés
1876-1878
Harvard Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge

10. a wicker basket decorated with lotus flowers ...
a procession travelling back to the Pharaoh's daughter abode in Memphis,
the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt,
lotus flowers held by the daughter,
the ostrich feather fan,
delphiniums, flowers cultivated and used for decoration in ancient Egypt
and
Moses being carried in a wicker basket
and
a red granite statue (possibly copied from the statue of Seti II in the British Museum).
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The Finding of Moses
La découverte de Moïse
Hallazgo de Moisés
1904-1905
Private collection

14. a wicker basket of the goddess Athena ...
the moment when the daughters of King Cecrops discover the infant Ericthonius
...
the painting is based on the Greek legend of Erichthonius, the son of Hephaestus and Gaia and raised by Athena.
Hephaestus, in a clumsy attempt to ravish Athena, accidentally let his semen spill over the ground,
and Mother Earth, thus fertilized, gave birth to Erichthonius.
Athena, wishing to raise the child in secret, shut the infant in a basket, which she entrusted
to the three daughters of Cecrops, king of Attica, forbidding them to open it.
But one of them, overcome by curiosity, did so and discovered that the child had a serpent's tail for legs
(or that a serpent lay beside it).
Maddened with terror the three threw themselves from the top of the Acropolis.
Erichthonius, brought up by Athena, became king of Athens.
Peter Paul Rubens
Erichthonius Discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops
Érichthonios découvert par les filles de Cécrops
Las Hijas de Cecrops descubriendo al niño Erichthonius
1616
Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna

18. a wicker basket with fig leaves and fruits ...
the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra, seated on a throne
and
the peasant standing by her side
and
a wicker basket
and ...
a closer look reveals the image of a snake emerging from the basket,
then it becomes evident that Cleopatra’s face is turned toward the basket of figs
and that her solemn expression is a reaction to the vision of the serpent …
Eugène Delacroix
Cléopâtre et le paysan
Cleopatra and the Peasant
Cleopatra y el Campesino
1838
Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC

22. a wicker basket of flowers …
a costal landscape,
a window
Christ Child plays with his mother,
Saint Joseph holds an apple, an allusion to the Garden of Eden,
that symbolizes Mary´s condition as the new Eve
an Angel crowns the Virgin as Queen of Heaven
and another
offers a wicker basket of flowers, alluding to the Passion of Jesus
Bernaert van Orley
Holy Family
La Sainte Famille
La sagrada Familia
1522
Museo del Prado, Madrid

25. a wicker basket on the road to Egypt ...
in the foreground, at Mary`s feet, allusions to the flight into Egypt:
the white saddlebags tied to St Joseph`s staff,
the water gourd and with its stopper
and
the wicker basket
Joachim Patinir
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Repos pendant la fuite en Égypte
Descanso en la huida a Egipto
1518-1520
Museum del Prado, Madrid

29. a wicker basket on the edge of a table ...
Christ blesses and breaks the bread,
Luke and Cleopas recognizing the resurrected Christ
the crisp white tablecloth,
the carafe of water and wine glass,
rustic bread
and
A basket of fruit with Christian symbolism:
two stray strands of wicker form an ichthys, the early Christian fish-symbol for Christ,
the shadow of the fruit on the tablecloth forms the body of a fish and fishtail.
Caravaggio Caravage
Supper at Emmaus
Le Souper à Emmaüs
Cena de Emaús
1601
National Gallery , London

33. a wicker basket in an allegory of human life ...
homo viator, a wayfarer, a prodigal son ... a man on the path of his life
a stick to defend against dog stalking
and
a large wicker basket
as a representation of his painful burden,
to walk the path of repentance, away from corruption and wickedness
Hieronymus Bosch Jérôme Bosch El Bosco
The Wayfarer or The Pedlar
Le Vagabond ou Le Colporteur ou Le Fils prodigue
El vendedor ambulante
1500
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

38. a wicker basket in a scene of daily life …
a woman servant, pouring milk from a jug
a folded Dutch octagonal table,
a mid-blue cloth,
pots,
broken and smaller pieces of different types of bread
and
a wicker basket of bread
and
a domestic wicker storage basket hanging by the window.
Johannes Vermeer
The Milkmaid
La Laitière
La lechera
1658-1659
The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam

43. a wicker basket overturned ...
a young woman in a shirt bathes,
two men in contemporary costumes seem to be arguing,
a naked woman looks at the viewer
fruit, bread, cherries on a bed of leaves
and
on the model's clothes
a wicker basket overturned ...
fruits, peaches, cherries and figs evoke an erotic metaphor, and associated
with immodest nudity they are a real provocation and an attack on good morals ...
… and the overturned basket is a symbol of the loss of innocence.
Édouard Manet
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe
Luncheon on the Grass
El almuerzo sobre la hierba
1863
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

48. a small wicker basket and a secret ...
a vast and deserted plain,
a church and its bell tower
a man and a woman put their hands together and bow their heads,
they recite the Angelus, a prayer that recalls the angel’s greeting to Mary at the Annunciation,
their faces remain in shadow
and
placed on the ground at their feet
a small wicker basket …
Jean-François Millet
L’Angélus
The Angelus
El Ángelus
1857-1859
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

51. …
Dalí has a copy of the painting in front of him,
fascinates him and at the same time makes him uncomfortable ...
believes that a secret is hidden in it.
In 1963 at the request of Salvador an X-ray of the Angelus of Millet was made.
Under the small basket, there was a first layer of paint
which shows a small rectangular black box ...
Dalí interprets as the coffin of a child ...
And the Angelus has become for him an infinite creative source.
Jean-François Millet
L’Angélus
The Angelus
El Ángelus
1857-1859
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

54. a wicker basket with fruits and leaves ...
he seems to teeter on the edge of pictorial space.
Leaves drying and withering, overripe fruit, prey to insects and worms ...
Caravaggio
Basket of Fruit
Corbeille de fruits
Cesto con frutas
1599
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan

57. …
it is the beauty that fades,
It is the inexorable passage of time ...

59. Wicker basket in European paintings
Panier en osier dans la peinture européenne
Cesta de mimbre en pinturas europeas
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