Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94 – 7 March 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit, as well as painting a number of remarkable shell still lifes; he is considered to be a pioneer in the genre of shell painting. His still lifes often contain insects and lizards. He was born in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

and died in Delft.Irene Haberland. "Ast, Balthasar van der." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 May. 2016 His lifetime of works was once summarized by an Amsterdam doctor who said, "In flowers, shells and lizards, beautiful".

Biography

Balthasar van der Ast - Flowers in a Vase with Shells and Insects - WGA1042

Balthasar van der Ast was born in

in the Southern Dutch province of

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

, in the family of a prosperous wool merchant. His birth was not recorded, but years later, on 30 June 1618, his older brother Jacob's legal action indicated that Balthasar was around 25 years old at the time, making his birth date 1593 or 1594. His father, Hans, was a widower, and when he died in 1609, Balthasar moved in with his older sister, Maria, and his brother-in-law, the prominent Dutch painter Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573–1621), whom Maria married in 1604. Van der Ast was trained by Bosschaert as a still life painter, and his early works clearly show Bosschaert's influence.Balthasar van der Ast
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

In turn, the three sons of Ambrosius Bosschaert, Ambrosius the Younger (1609–1645),

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

(ca. 1612/13-1628 or later), and

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

(1606-1683/84) were trained by van der Ast upon the death of their father. Together, this group of painters is sometimes referred to as the “Bosschaert dynasty”. Van der Ast accompanied the Bosschaert family in their move in 1615 to Bergen op Zoom and in 1619 to

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, where van der Ast entered the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke. Roelandt Savery (1576–1639) entered the St. Luke's guild in Utrecht at about the same time. Savery, had considerable influence on van der Ast and his pupils in the years to come, especially in van der Ast's interest in tonality. Besides the Bosschaerts, his pupils were Anthony Claesz and Johannes Baers. It is also likely that Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1683/84) was van der Ast's pupil in Utrecht. He also influenced

Willem Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

and Evert van Aelst, and Bartholomeus Assteyn. Van der Ast remained in Utrecht until 1632, when he moved to Delft where he joined the guild of St Luke on 22 June 1633. In February 1633 he married Margrieta Jans van Buijeren. They had two children, Maria and Helena. In Delft, van der Ast and family lived in the house on Cellebroerstraat until 1640, and in the house in Oude Delft until his death in 1657, when he was buried in the Oude Kerk.

Selected works

Image:Balthasar van der Ast, Basket of Fruits, c. 1622, NGA 76207.jpg, ''Basket of Fruits'', c. 1622, National Gallery of Art File:Basket-flowers-1622.jpg, ''Basket with flowers'' Fruit still life with shells.jpg, ''Fruit still life with shells'', 1620 File:Bartholomeus van der Ast still life with shells.jpg, ''Still life with shells''

References

External links

*
Works and literature
at PubHist
Vermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Balthasar van der Ast {{DEFAULTSORT:Ast, Balthasar Van Der 1590s births 1657 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Middelburg Dutch still life painters Painters from Utrecht Painters from Delft Flower artists