Pieter Claesz (c. 1597 – 1 January 1660) was a

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

Biography

He was born in

Berchem Berchem () is a southern Districts of Antwerp, district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Berchem is located along the old ''Grote Steenweg'' (Dutch language, Dutch for 'Big Paved Road') that has connected ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, near

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, where he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1620. He moved to

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

in 1620, where his son, the landscape painter Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem was born (October 1).Pieter Claesz entry
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

He and Willem Claeszoon Heda, who also worked in Haarlem, were the most important exponents of the "ontbijt" or dinner piece. They painted with subdued, virtually monochromatic palettes, the subtle handling of light and texture being the prime means of expression. Claesz generally chose objects of a more hospitable kind than Heda, although his later work became more colourful and decorative. Claesz's still lifes often suggest allegorical purpose, with skulls serving as reminders of human mortality. The two men founded a distinguished tradition of still life painting in Haarlem. Pieter Claesz was influenced by the

vanitas ''Vanitas'' is a genre of symbolizing the temporality, transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldly desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of transitory i ...

movement.

Legacy

Claesz is registered in the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke as the teacher of his son, Nicolaes Berchem, in 1634, but Nicolaes preferred landscapes to still life painting and later after a trip his talent in music. Claesz had, in addition to his son, the pupils Evert van Aelst, Floris van Dyck, Christian Berentz, Floris van Schooten, and Jan Jansz Treck.

Selected works

File:Pieter Claesz. - Stilleven met kalkoenpastei - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Still Life with Turkey Pie'', 1627, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. File:Claesz., Pieter - Still Life with Musical Instruments - 1623.jpg, ''Still Life with Musical Instruments'', 1623,

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, Paris. File:Pieter Claesz. - Stilleven.jpg, ''Still Life with Römer, Silver Tazza and Bread Roll'', 1637,

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

, Madrid. File:Claesz Pieter Still-Life with a Tall Golden Geblet.jpg, ''A Still-Life with a Tall Golden Geblet'', 1624,

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...

, Dresden. File:Pieter Claesz - Still Life with Fruit and Roemer - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Still Life with fruit, bread and roemer'', 1644, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest.

References

*National Gallery of Art

External links

Pieter Claesz
at PubHist {{DEFAULTSORT:Claesz, Pieter 1590s births 1660 deaths Flemish still life painters 17th-century Flemish painters Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters People from Berchem Dutch still life painters Painters from Antwerp Painters from Haarlem