That's what Met catalog says about the painting, very justly: The apples and fly are symbols of sin and evil and are opposed to the cucumber and goldfinch, symbols of redemption. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sacr/hod_49.7.5.htm

I would add the crack at the right bottom to these symbols (for death). The fly completes the set of four symbolic objects contrasting the purity of baby Jesus and his Mother (the bird might be the Spirit rather than redemption). I am not sure about cucumber as a positive symbol, though. Quite often

...the cucumber is a symbol for the human sin that did not affect the Immaculate Virgin (based on an interpretation of Isaiah 1:8: "And the daughter of Zion is left...as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.") In De universe Hrabanus Maurus states the cucumber symbolized lust, because the Jews in the desert "preferred cucumbers to the manna sent from Heaven."

Alternatively, it contrasts the apple in the same way a Karpas does at the Passover (the fruit of the underground).The talisman and optical illusion theories are almost certainly incorrect.

Да, здесь при обилии иконографических символов, муха явственно должна интерпретироваться в контексте противопостовления Добра и Зла (об этом же и пишет сам Манка). Про огурцы надо проверить Фергюссона, сделаю это дома.

Мухи как обман зрения, насколько я понимаю, встречаются в основном на портретах. Самым ранним подобным примером во фламандском искусстве считается портрет картезианца кисти Петруса Кристуса:



Другой подобный пример: автопортрет с женой антверпенского мастера Франкфурта. Немецкий пример: более поздний портрет.

Very interesting; I knew only one of these examples. However, Crivelli's painting is clearly different; it does not continue your series. Well, I hope you find something interesting about the cucumbers in Fergusson. I long gave up on them. This is one of the most difficult vegetables to deal with. Sometimes it is purity of Christ. Sometimes it is "rapid but short-lived growth" (Freud) Sometimes it is "symbol of the preservation of life because of its ability to retain water." Sometimes it is a phallic symbol. Apparently, nobody knows exactly what cucumbers are supposed to symbolize.

...besides Giotto’s anecdote, painting flies on portraits and religious pictures with the ability of the trompe d’oeil, became one hilarious trand of many artists between the XV and XVI century. In some cases the flies appeared in perspective, like in the "Madonna with the gillyflower" by Carlo Crivelli, in others was seen from the top, like in the "Vergine in Maestà" by George Schiavone, and still could be found in accessory elements, like on the cloth held by one of the Della Torre brothers, painted by Lorenzo Lotto in 1515.

Is that from this site:
http://totumsimul.com/english/page_pinocchio.htm ? I cannot locate a painting of Crivelli by the said name or any of its possible variants (say, a carnation instead of a gillyflower). Can you point to the painting? A perspective drawing of a fly would be most interesting to see. I wonder if such a marvel exist...

Yes, that's right.
I couldn't find any paintings with this name - the closest ones I reckon are: http://www.brera.beniculturali.it/archivio/fotogrande.php
http://images.vam.ac.uk (type Crivelli in the search-box)
There is a flower on both of them which looks remotely like a gillyflower.

I discovered something more:"Vasari's statement" given there is make-belief. This site is probably a hoax.

Somehow, the Lotto's painting does exist, although its real name seems to be different from the one given on the site.

Я думаю, что статья написана по принципу "слышал звон" - подобные картины существуют, но понять о какой идёт речь невозможно, т.к. автор сам этого не знает.

Похоже на то.

;-(

Надеюсь,это относится не ко мне? Я таки просто хотела внести скромный вклад в копилку мух...

Что Вы, это относится исключительно к автору статьи.

Lorenzo Lotto, Giovanni Agostino della Torre and his Son, NiccolР LOTTO, Lorenzo about 1513-16, London Nat Gallery

"according to Pliny, Apelles painted such true-to-life flies that everyone who saw them tried to shoo them away. We know that Apelles is considered the greatest Greek painter, famous primarily for his skill as a craftsman and for his ideas. In reality, however, just like Giotto, he never painted a trompe l’oeil fly. I believe the “secret" of this forever-changing anecdote can be found in the workshop of Squarcione."
Anna Eörsi
Puer, abige muscas!
Remarks on Renaissance Flyology

Спасибо за дополнение.

BOT CCbI/\KA HA TOT TEKCT
http://arthist.elte.hu/Tanarok/EorsiA/Fulltexts/Idegen/legyek_a.htm

Спасибо!

Вот что пишет Фергюссон:

The gourd is prominent in the story of Jonah, and, because of this association with him, has become to symbolize the Resurrection (Jonah 4). When painted together with an apploe, the gourde, as the symbol of the Resurrection, is the antidote for the apple, the symbol of evil, or death.

The gourd was used by piligrims as a flask to carry water. It is the special attribute of St. James the Great, and of the Archangel Raphael and is sometimes given to Christ, who, dressed as a piligrim, joined the two Apostles on their way to Emmaus. Frequently, in art the gourd resembles a cucumber.

Now I see where Met's redemption theory comes from: botanical confusion. Why would Crivelli paint a gourd that looks exactly like a cucumber, time and time again? Crivelli knew very well how a gourd looks like; it is not an exotic fruit. What Fergusson writes about gourds is absolutely correct, but cucumbers "representing" gourds is odd.One may as well suggest that cucumbers represent carrots.

Cucumbers do have reach symbolism of their own, albeit less settled. In this particular painting cucumber might stand for lust (which is one of these symbols). Then one has the complete set around Maddona and baby Jesus: lust (cucumber), sin (apple), evil (fly), death (crack). The whole unholy gamut of the Original Sin.

Заранее оговорюсь, что мои поздания в ботанике минимальны. Мудрый Гугль подсказал, что и огурец, и горлянка (она же тыква посудная) принадлежат к одной и той же группе Cucurbitaceae (Тыквенные) - может быть они похожи друг на друга? Мне очень хочется верить в Ваше объяснение, или хотя бы в греховность огурца, но откуда-то же взялась идея отождествления огурца с горлянкой?!

а почему Кривелли любил огурцы на картинах?..

Скорее всего, огурцы имели символическое значение. http://www.livejournal.com/users/clement/175870.html?thread=2360318#t2360318

что-то я проглядел эту часть дискуссии...
--
просто как раз на днях этот момент обсуждали - отметили этот факт, но там была предложена какая-то странная интерпретация, вот я и задумался

thanks a lot for this Flyology

Рад, что Вам было интересно.

На прошлой неделе случайно углядела в музее еще одну: Bartholomaeus I Bruyn "Portrait de Margarethe van Houltz, première épouse de Balthasar von Kerpen"

Да, вот она: http://www.livejournal.com/users/clement/125588.html

Извините, прошляпила.
Спасибо Вам, кстати, за интересные ссылки.

Большое спасибо Вам за интерес.

;-)