Flower Still-Life

Private collection

still-life

This flower still-life depicts a crown imperial lily, tulips, irises, roses, carnations, aquilegia, fritillaries and other flowers in a sculpted urn, with seashells on a stone ledge, a lizard, a caterpillar, red admirals, a dragonfly and a bee, a curtain draped above. Noteworthy are the extremely large shells featured at the base of this composition. This painting is one of few large-scale upright compositions of fruit or flowers painted by the artist in his entire career.

About the Artist

Balthasar van der Ast

1594 – 1657

Dutch still-life painter, the brother-in-law of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, with whom he trained in Middelburg. He worked in Utrecht before settling in Delft in 1632. His touch was less exquisite than Bosschaert's, but his range was wider, his paintings often including fruit and shells as well as flowers. Jan Davidsz. de Heem was his pupil in Utrecht.

View all works →