Joris Van Son

Joris van Son or Georg van Son (baptized 24 September 1623 – buried 25 June 1667 in Antwerp) was a Flemish still life painter who worked in a number of sub-genres but is principally known for his still lifes of fruit. He also painted flowers, banquets, vanitas still lifes and pronkstillevens. He is known to have painted fish still lifes representing the Four Elements,Joris van Son
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History and also collaborated with figure artists on 'garland paintings', which typically represent a devotional image framed by a fruit or flower garland.

Life

Joris van Son was born in Antwerp, the son of Joris and Catharina Formenois and was baptized on 24 September 1623 in the Antwerp Cathedral. It is not clear with which artist he trained. His work shows a strong influence of Jan Davidszoon de Heem, a Dutch still life painter who was active in Antwerp from the mid-1630s. This may be an indication that van Son studied with de Heem or was an assistant in de Heem's studio and was very familiar with de Heem's work in his formative years.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 1119–1121 He became a master in Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp in the guild year 1643/1644.De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde
Volume 2, by Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, Antwerp, 1864, p. 144, on Google books

In 1647, he became a member of the pious bachelor society, de 'Sodaliteit van de Bejaerde Jongmans', a fraternity for bachelors established by the Jesuit order. This did not stop him from seeking out the company of women. He started a relationship with Cornelia van Heulens. Their relationship produced a daughter, Maria Chatharina, who was born on 3 August 1656. The still life painter Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder was her godfather. Not long thereafter, on 22 October 1656, van Son married the mother of his child. Two years later a son, who was named Jan Frans, was born. The last child of the couple, called Maria Chatharina, was baptized on 5 October 1660.

Van Son's work was much appreciated by collectors and his paintings were in the collections of artists such as Victor Wolfvoet and traders such as Geraert van Dorth.Joris van Son
at the Prado Museum The pupils of van Son included Frans van Everbroeck, Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Younger, Cornelis van Huynen, Norbert Montalie and Abraham Herderwijn (Aberam Herderwyn). His son Jan Frans was only nine when he died and was therefore not trained by Joris. Rather, Jan Frans was a pupil of Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Elder. Jan Frans became a still life painter and worked in England.

Van Son suddenly took ill in May 1667 and died prematurely at the age of 44, in his native city of Antwerp, where he was buried on 25 June 1667.

Work

General

Van Son was a specialist still life painter. He practised many of the sub-genres of still life such as fruit still lifes, flower pieces, banquet still lifes, vanitas still lifes, garland paintings and pronkstillevens, i.e. sumptuous still lifes of luxurious objects. He is known to have painted fish still lifes representing the Four Elements. These showed fish lying on a beach in front of the ocean. The painter Jan van Kessel the Elder later produced similar works. The chronology of his work is not easy to establish as he did not date many of his paintings.

Van Son's still lifes almost always include fruit, often of varieties that are not native but imported. His still lifes are animated by branches of cherries or raspberries, which endow the composition with a great lightness. The objects are distributed on a table or ledge at a level so that an intimacy with the viewer is created.

Garland paintings

Another important portion of van Son's output falls into the category of 'garland paintings'. Garland paintings are a type of still life invented in early 17th-century Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder and subsequently practised by leading Flemish still life painters, in particular Daniel Seghers. Paintings in this genre typically show a flower or, less frequently, fruit garland around a devotional image or portrait. In the later development of the genre, the devotional image is replaced by other subjects such as portraits, mythological subjects and allegorical scenes.Susan Merriam, ''Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings. Still Life, Vision and the Devotional Image'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012

Garland paintings were usually collaborations between a still life and a figure painter. Not all of van Son's collaborators on his garland paintings have been identified but they are known to have included Erasmus Quellinus II, Pieter Boel, Frans Wouters, Gysbrecht Thys

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