In Still Life with Ducks and Vegetables, Thomas Hill proudly presents his technical skills in a tour-de-force still life piled high in a feast for the senses, a celebration of spring's rich abundance of colors and tastes. It is a trophy painting, in both the effort of the painter and the affluence of the patron's table depicted here. While the virtuosity of Hill's painting evokes 17th-century Dutch still life tradition, there is also a sense of hearty and diverse American foodstuffs: asparagus, cabbage, radishes, carrots, lettuces, and onions.