Representing books: William Barnett and Jan D. de Heem

Right: Music and Literature, 1878, by William Barnett

Left: Still Life of Books, 1628, by Jan Davidsz de Heem

Although these two paintings are separated by two centuries they have a lot in common. The right one depicts books and some objects we cannot quickly recognize as being part of our lives and we have the feeling that everything that is on he table was put carefully at each place so that the painter could show his skills in painting realistically.

The left one has an atmosphere that someone is working at these place and can reappear at any moment making the scene part of quotidian life but we can feel that it was one of the painters intention. Jan Davidsz de Heem has many still lives where it is clear that objects were arranged. 
We can only hope that someone was there to clean them or the painter would not be able to see the texture of the metal, glass or the other materials accurately.