Serving Table

1631 · Private collection

still-life

This signed and dated canvas depicts a serving table with plates of sweets, olives and cheese, a glass vessel of water, and a terracotta jar. In this still-life, the painter subtly manipulated a series of forms (edibles and utensils) all derived from primary geometric shapes (circles, spheres and cylinders) and played these against the reticular articulation of the tablecloth and the receding rectangular tabletop. Tabletop still-lifes were produced by such early seventeenth century Northern artists as Nicolaes Gillis, Floris van Dyck and Clara Peeters.

About the Artist

Juan van der Hamen

1596 – 1631

Juan van der Hamen y Leon was the son of a Flemish painter of still-life, Jan van der Hamen, and a Spanish mother. He was a major painter of 'bodegon' still-life and genre in a style still markedly Flemish. He was also the most important still-life painter at court in the early reign of Philip IV and a pioneer in the field of flower painting. Van der Hamen probably began painting floral arrangements in response to the flower pieces of Flemish artists, such as Jan "Velvet" Brueghel, who were regarded as exemplary masters in the field and whose works were much sought after in Spain. His Cook (c.1630, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) is curiously like an Aertsen or a Beuckelaer, though he presumably never saw one. Other works are in Brussels, Cleveland, Ohio, Houston, Texas, Madrid, Washington and Williamstown, Mass.

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