quinces

Gardeners are sharing black-and-white photographs of this year's quince harvest under the tag harvest26, showing fruit gathered for juicing and distributed through community-sharing initiatives. The posts highlight solidarity agriculture projects and fruit-sharing schemes that pass surplus garden produce on to neighbours rather than letting it go to waste.

Art lovers are revisiting Juan Sánchez Cotán's 1602 painting 'Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber', one of the most celebrated still lifes of the Spanish Golden Age. One writer recalls being 'blown away' on first seeing it at an exhibition of Spanish art, describing it as a simple-looking work with a wonderfully mysterious quality. The painting's stark composition of suspended fruit against darkness continues to fascinate viewers more than four centuries later.