The Flemish artist Clara Peeters painted 'Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels' around 1615, a masterpiece of Dutch still-life painting that showcases various cheeses in exquisite detail. Peeters was one of the earliest professional women artists and a pioneer of the still-life genre, and her work demonstrates the elevated status of cheese in Dutch Golden Age art as a symbol of national prosperity and abundance.

Peeters's meticulous rendering of cheese has inspired poets and art critics alike, with her work often cited in ekphrastic poetry that describes the visual textures and symbolic meanings of food in art. The painting's celebration of cheese as an object of beauty and national pride parallels the pastoral poetry of the Dutch Golden Age, where dairy products were praised as emblems of the country's wealth and agricultural success. Her influence extends to contemporary food writers and poets.