Abraham van Beyeren
1620/21 Den Haag – 1690 Overschie
PRONK STILL LIVE WITH NAUTILUS-CUP
AND FRUITS (ca.
1650/55)
Oil on canvas
Format:
80.4 x 63 cm
One of the most versatile artists of his
day, and the pre-eminent painter of fish still lifes, Van Beyeren is also
celebrated as one of the greatest masters of the pronk still life, of which the
present work is an example. Born in The Hague in 1620, he first studied under
his brother-in-law, Pieter de Putter, a spe- cialist in fish still lifes. Having
first become a master in The Hague in 1640, where in 1656 he helped to found
the Confrerie Pictura, mounting debts forced him to move to Delft from 1657
to
1661, although he was again in The Hague between 1663 and 1669. He was then
recorded in Amsterdam, Alkmaar and Gouda before settling in Overschie in 1678.
Van Beyeren’s
pronk still lifes date from the 1650s and 1660s. These pictures generally
depict a table laden with a variety of ornate glassware, gilded goblets,
nautilus cups, silver dishes, Chinese porcelains, costly fruits and other
delicacies, many of the objects appearing repeatedly in his paintings.
Provenance:
Galerie
Dr. Benedict & Co., Berlin
1927, Privatsammlung
Niederlande
Lempertz, Köln
1965/04/28, Lot 13
The painting is registered in the database of the RKD, Den Haag / expertise by
Fred Meijer