"Paintings of broken glass are yet another trope from Baroque Dutch still life. Glass was once a very expensive, and very fragile, luxury. The paradox of Dutch vanitas painting is that they condemn earthly pleasures while also celebrating them, so still lifes of glasses piled up or gleaming in the darkness were a natural metaphor for the frailty of earthly life, a celebration of wealth, and an excuse to show off with a virtuosic display of painting.

These glasses were expensive champagne flutes purchased by my sister in a moment of indulgence, and then smashed at various parties. I painted the remains as a birthday present to my sister; at once celebrating the fragility of her original possession and giving it a more enduring form."

Anthony Springford