Still Life Of Banquet With Ham And Strawberry Dish. Workshop Of Pieter Claesz (1596-1661)

Oil on oak panel Presented in a very beautiful Dutch style frame with reversed profile, guilloché and elm burl veneer. Total dimensions: 78 x 110 cm. The panel alone: 51 x 82.8 cm One of the masters of still life Pieter Claesz mainly painted monochromatic “banquets” or “served tables”, with a few color highlights. A table has been set with a ham in the center, a dish of strawberries, a small open pot with the handle of a spoon sticking out. Two large glasses, including the famous "Römer" filled with white wine whose bunch of grapes is not far away. The banquet has been interrupted as evidenced by the crumpled napkin, the pewter plate unbalanced on the edge of the table. The scene is abandoned to the light whose reflections dance from object to object and on the milky fat of the ham. One of the two knives, placed near an open walnut has a twisted handle with small luminous points, luminous are also the fabrics which offer a counterpoint of white to the bistre shades of the bare wall. This rigorous simplicity is intentional. The sudden end of the feast underlines the ephemeral nature of earthly pleasures, and bears the lesson of a moral duty of abnegation. Pieter Claesz is recognized for his art of conveying this message. The Netherlands, a Spanish possession until independence in 1648, experienced conflicts that undermined the unique social and economic fabric of the seven provinces. It is a country of cities where all the inhabitants enjoy rights. Tradesmen and craftsmen organized themselves into guilds which governed the professions and assumed a role of social assistance. The continuation of the war with France and England will not prevent the enrichment of the country, based on trade. Merchandise flowed in from the Orient and America: spices, silks, precious materials, furs… This high standard of living favored the development of culture. The citizen, of Haarlem for example, likes to discuss with the painters whose workshop he frequents and from whom he orders works; he knows who to contact for such type of painting. There are on average about ten paintings in a private individual, rich bourgeois or simple merchant. Of Calvinist obedience and deeply religious, the inhabitants of the United Provinces nevertheless appreciate beautiful objects, considered as the manifestation of divine generosity; they can use them provided they recognize their ephemeral nature. Some painters excel in these Stillleben, these stopped lives. They deploy there all the finesse of their paintings, the science of monochromatic scales and the diffusion of light, while using moral symbols. So many elements that serve as a memento mori and demonstrate the vanity of being satisfied only with earthly goods and enjoying, if only for a while, a magnificent picture. Pieter Claesz was born in Berchem near Antwerp around 1596-1597, he died in Haarlem, buried on January 1, 1661. Dutch still life painter (United Provinces) of the golden age. He is one of the representatives of the Baroque. His very flourishing workshop produced a large number of paintings to satisfy a high demand. Very good state of conservation. Sold with invoice & certificate.