still life with an old tour de france bicycle by anne droogsma

A still life is an artistic composition (painting, drawing, photograph) of motionless or lifeless objects that have been carefully lit. Painting a still life allows a painter to concentrate on the composition and on the use of colour and tonal value, the smooth distinction in colour nuances between the lightest and darkest lot.

A still life is a work of study or test of the painter's virtuosity.[1] Karel van Mander wrote that still life was exercise material for youth and that a good painter leaves it in favour of better subjects.[2]

The Tour de France (French: Tour de France [ˌtuʀdəˈfʀɑ̃ːs]?, also known as the Tour) is a multi-day cycling race that mainly passes through France. Together with the tours of Italy (Giro) and Spain (Vuelta), it is one of the three Grand Tours.

The Tour de France originated in 1903 and was organised at the time by Henri Desgrange, editor-in-chief of the magazine L'Auto. His young collaborator, journalist Georges Lefèvre, who was also the Tour director of the first edition, was inspired by cyclist Jean Marie Corre's individual attempt in 1895. Corre introduced a bicycle made of aluminium in 1895 and tested it single-handedly over all known courses in France. From this, the idea was born in 1903 to revive these time trials annually. Since then, the Tour has become the most important and honourable cycling race of the year.

The riders with the most overall victories are Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain, who won the Tour five times each. American Lance Armstrong had to surrender his seven Tour victories from 1999 to 2005 because he admitted using doping. No new winners were designated for these Tours.