DEVIN CECIL-WISHING: The Art of Abundance - Painting the Sumptuous Flemish Still Life

Pronkstilleven: a still life created to astonish.

Silver gleams. Fruit spills across the table. A curling lemon peel leads the eye through velvet, porcelain, flowers, shells, and objects gathered from distant places. Everything is heightened by light; everything feels almost close enough to touch.

The Dutch word pronkstilleven—pronounced roughly pronk-still-lay-ven—means “sumptuous” or “ostentatious still life.” These lavish paintings emerged in 17th-century Flanders and the Netherlands as dazzling displays of abundance, beauty, and painterly virtuosity. Yet beneath their splendor often lies a quieter idea: beauty fades, pleasures pass, and the material world is as fleeting as it is irresistible.

At first glance, the pronkstilleven can appear impossibly complex. Devin’s gift as a teacher is showing painters how its magic is built—one observation, one relationship, and one passage at a time. The goal is not to reproduce a Flemish masterpiece in a week, but to understand the enduring principles behind it and apply them at your own level.

Meet Devin Cecil-Wishing

Few contemporary painters are better suited to guide artists into this remarkable tradition than Devin Cecil-Wishing.

A core instructor at New York’s Grand Central Atelier, Devin works within the visual language of Dutch and Flemish Baroque painting while creating images that feel mysterious, inventive, and unmistakably his own. He paints exclusively from life, memory, and imagination—never from photographs—and uses historical pigments that would have been available to a 17th-century painter.

For Devin, traditional technique is not a formula to be copied. It is a living language: a way to explore light, atmosphere, emotion, and the physical beauty of paint. His compositions evolve intuitively rather than from a predetermined plan, allowing meaning and narrative to emerge as the painting develops.

Originally from San Francisco, Devin earned his BFA with High Honors from the California College of the Arts before completing five years of intensive study at the Grand Central Atelier. He later joined its core faculty and now divides his time between New York City and Thessaloniki, Greece, while teaching workshops internationally.

His teaching is built around one essential principle: artists should understand not only what works, but why it works. By breaking complex visual problems into clear, manageable ideas, Devin helps painters understand the structure behind a convincing illusion—from the cool gleam of silver to the weight of folded cloth, or the glow of fruit emerging from shadow.

Workshops devoted to the pronkstilleven are seldom offered. To study the form with a painter so deeply immersed in its history, materials, and visual intelligence is rarer still.

Workshop Overview

In Devin’s words:

Originally developed in Antwerp during the 1600s by artists such as Frans Snyders and Adriaen van Utrecht, the pronkstilleven was a subgenre of still-life painting characterized by elaborate compositions and abundant arrangements of varied objects. Its subjects ranged from fruits and flowers to musical instruments, cookware, fish, live animals, and even human figures.

One question frequently arises when looking at these paintings: How were the artists able to paint so many perishable subjects when they had only a limited amount of time before the objects wilted, changed, or began to decay?

In this workshop, we will explore how painters approached that very problem.

We will focus on creating a fully resolved still-life painting using a direct method that allows for improvisation within the composition. This approach also makes it possible to create finished passages of subjects that may offer only a brief window in which to paint them.

We will skip the preliminary drawing and underpainting that many painters are accustomed to using. Instead, we will dive directly into paint, building the composition one element at a time. During the week, we will discuss painting light and form, color mixing, paint handling, and many other aspects of painting and drawing. We will also consider different ways of constructing a composition “on the fly” as the painting develops.

Students will select their own subject matter. You may choose objects that remain stable throughout the week or work with more ephemeral subjects that change quickly. As far as subject matter is concerned, the sky is the limit—bring whatever you would like to include in your painting.

This course is open to painters at every level, with instruction geared toward beginners and advanced students alike.

—Devin Cecil-Wishing

An Old Master Tradition Made Approachable

No previous experience with Flemish painting methods is required. Whether you are undertaking your first sustained still life or already have years of painting behind you, Devin will meet you where you are and guide you through each stage of the process.

The same essential lessons—how to organize a composition, simplify value, mix convincing color, describe different surfaces, and use light to create atmosphere—serve painters at every level.

Your finished painting does not need to rival a 17th-century masterpiece to represent a genuine artistic leap. The real value lies in learning to see more clearly, work more deliberately, respond to change, and understand why a painting succeeds.

Your Week at Sicily Artist Retreats

This will be a deeply focused studio workshop held in the spacious, professionally equipped, and fully air-conditioned Sicily Artist Retreats studios in Marsala.

The studio days will be immersive but unhurried, giving you time to observe closely, make thoughtful decisions, and develop a single painting with sustained attention. Devin’s demonstrations, discussions, and individual guidance will help you navigate the process while still allowing room for personal choice and discovery.

Lunch will be prepared on site by our cook, allowing everyone to pause, gather around the table, and return to painting without losing the creative rhythm of the day.

And because even the most dedicated studio painter needs fresh visual nourishment, the week will extend beyond the easel.

Excursions will introduce you to western Sicily’s own theater of color, history, and abundance—from Marsala’s historic fish market to remarkable archaeological sites shaped by the many civilizations that crossed the island. At the Stagnone Lagoon, we will watch the sun descend over ancient salt pans and windmills while enjoying an aperitivo beside the water.

Sicily is more than the setting for this workshop. With its markets, layered histories, dramatic light, and instinct for beauty at the table, it is a natural companion to the art of the sumptuous still life.

This is not simply a workshop about painting beautiful objects. It is an invitation to look harder, understand light more deeply, embrace the unexpected—and create an entire world in paint.