Matthew Clements: Writing & Voice

Any national gallery worth its salt will contain a room of 17th Century still-life paintings, a great many of them by Flemish artists, gilt-framed glimpses into the opulence of the Dutch Golden Age where you can cast your eye over tables teeming with cornucopias of fruit, slumped pheasant and partridge, cooked lobster and the occasional drooping swan. Marvelling at the array of pocket watches, hourglasses, skulls and snuffed out candles, you might pick up on a theme, a dark symbolism running through these artworks. That photorealistic cascade of grapes whisper a message across the centuries: at the very moment of their perfect ripeness, they are simultaneously on the verge of decay. These Vanitas paintings were intended to serve as a reminder that all good things come to an end. To my mind, they unlock a metaphor for Leicester City’s rise and fall since that scarcely believable Premier League victory in 2016.