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What makes the painting being auctioned, originally from the collection of art historian PhDr. Eduard Šafařík, truly exceptional is its genre. Still lifes are rare in Brožík's oeuvre; usually they are mere additions to a painting of an interior, rounding out the salon atmosphere and part of a greater picture. Here, however, the still life is the primary motif; its execution harks to precise Dutch painting, which Brožík studied in the Netherlands in 1879. PhDr. Blažíčková-Horová ranks the painting among Brožík's very best work due to the excellence of the painting and uniqueness of the theme. The artist used the motif of a miniature Dutch painting-style still life with fruit and a kettle in an intimate and somewhat altered form in his 1896 painting Visiting and his 1898 painting Ludwig XIII with Cardinal Richelieu. Expert assessment: PhDr. Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová; published in: Naděžda Blažíčková-Horová: Václav Brožík (1851-1901); catalogue, National Gallery in Prague, Prague 2003, p. 272, cat. no. 266. Oil on canvas, signed "V. Brožík, Paris" on bottom right.