Gesant van die mispels

Twelve still lifes by the Dutch painter Adriaen Coorte (c. 1659–1707) are reproduced in colour, each beside an Afrikaans poem, with a Dutch version, made with Henda Strydom, overleaf. Each poem first enters its picture with strong feeling, then thinks about how it came to be, about the painter’s life and habits, and often about the speaker’s own past. Coorte painted with a war over the Spanish throne raging near him, yet left all violence out: small, quiet pictures of a lone apricot, asparagus or strawberries, bathed in an uncanny still light against deep darkness. From such humble things the poems draw their force, as when a Chinese bowl of berries becomes an image of the poet raising the small white flag of the word. An afterword describes the painter’s art.

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About the book

Form

Poetry

Length

68 pages in the original

First published

2018 by Human & Rousseau

Author's age

64 when first published

ISBN

9780798176552 (original)