Willem van Aelst (16 May 1627 – buried 22 May 1683)Aelst, Willem van
at 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 ...

was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

artist who specialized in

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

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

with flowers or game.

Biography

Van Aelst was born in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

to a family of prominent city magistrates. He learned to paint from his uncle, the still-life painter

Evert van Aelst Evert van Aelst, sometimes known as Everard Aalst, (1602 in Delft – 19 February 1657 in Delft) was a Dutch still life painter. Van Aelst was the uncle and teacher of Willem van Aelst. Both were famous for their still life paintings of game, f ...

. On 9 November 1643 he enrolled as a master of the

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was iden ...

at Delft. Between 1645 and 1649 he lived in France. In 1649 Van Aelst travelled to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where he served as court painter to

Ferdinando II de' Medici Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. Remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture and scie ...

, grand duke of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. Here he was known as ''Guillielmo d'Olanda''. At this time, the grand duke also employed two fellow Dutchmen

Matthias Withoos Matthias Withoos (1627–1703), also known as Calzetta Bianca and Calzetti, was a Dutch painter of still lifes and city scenes, best known for the details of insects, reptiles and undergrowth in the foreground of his pictures.Seymour Slive, ...

and

Otto Marseus van Schrieck Otto Marseus van Schrieck (ca. 1613, in Nijmegen – buried 22 June 1678, in Amsterdam) was a painter in the Dutch Golden Age. He is best known for his paintings of forest flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna. Biography Marseus ...

, the latter also a still-life painter who probably influenced Van Aelst's style. Ferdinando II publicly presented Van Aelst with a gold chain and medal, as a testimony of his approbation and an acknowledgement of his talents. It has been conjectured that Van Aelst visited

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

where he became a member of the

Bentvueghels The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique"). Activities The members, which incl ...

, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome. This conjecture is based, not very convincingly, on his practice during the years 1657/58 to sign his works with his name followed by: ‘alias (and a drawn stick figure)'. Some interpreted this as a reference to a Bent name (the nickname that a member of the Bentvueghels would adopt) – De Vogelverschrikker (Dutch for 'scarecrow') – but there are no documents confirming this.Biografische gegevens
op Hadrianus In 1656 he returned to the Netherlands to settle permanently in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He became one of the most prominent still-life painters of his generation, which allowed him to live on the

Prinsengracht The Prinsengracht is a -long canal that runs parallel to the Keizersgracht in the center of Amsterdam. The canal, named after the Prince of Orange, is the fourth of the four main canals belonging to the Grachtengordel, canal belt. History Const ...

. He must have at Amsterdam died in 1683 or shortly thereafter, as his latest dated work is from that year. Van Aelst taught

Rachel Ruysch Rachel Ruysch (3 June 1664 – 12 October 1750) was a Dutch still-life painter from the Northern Netherlands. She specialized in flowers, inventing her own style and achieving international fame in her lifetime. Due to a long and successful car ...

Isaac Denies Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in which he is the son of ...

Maria van Oosterwijck Maria van Oosterwijck, also spelled Oosterwyck, (1630–1693) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, specialising in richly detailed flower paintings and other still lifes. Life and work Maria van Oosterwijck was born in 1630 in Nootdorp, a town loca ...

, and

Ernst Stuven Ernst Stuven (c. 1657–1712) was a German Baroque flower painter. Biography According to Houbraken, he was born in Hamburg, where he was initially trained by Georg Hainz. At the age of eighteen he moved to Amsterdam (c. 1675–1677), where he be ...

Legacy

Van Aelst has paintings in public collections including thirteen paintings in public collections in the United Kingdom.

Selected works

Still-Life with Fruit and Crystal Vase 1652 Willem van Aelst.jpg, ''Still-Life with Fruit and Crystal Vase'', 1652,

Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

, Florence. Vruchten en wijnglas - Willem van Aelst - KMSKA.jpg, ''Still-Life with wine glass'', 1659,

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp ( Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen''; KMSKA) is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth to t ...

, Antwerp. Willem van Aelst - Flower Still Life with a Timepiece - 2 - Mauritshuis.jpg, ''Flower Still- Life with a Timepiece'', 1663,

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (, ; ) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van ...

, The Hague. Willem van Aelst - Still-Life with Fruit - WGA0044.jpg, ''Still-Life with Fruit'', 1664,

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...

, Madrid. Willem van Aelst - Still Life with Partridges - 3 - Mauritshuis.jpg, ''Still Life with Partridges'', 1671,

, The Hague.

References

External links

Website on Willem van Aelst in DelftOnline gallery and literature
at PubHist
Vermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Willem van Aelst
List of paintings by Willem van Aelst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelst, Willem van 1627 births 1683 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch flower artists Painters from Delft Members of the Bentvueghels Dutch still life painters