Juan van der Hamen y León

Spanish, 1596 - 1631

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Spanish artist (1596-1630)

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A basket of fruit, a plate of baked goods, glass jars, round wooden boxes, and terracotta-red and orange vessels are arranged among gray stone ledges set at different heights that together span the width of this horizontal still life painting. Light falls across the objects from the left, and the background is deeply shadowed, nearly black. Near the top left corner, a woven basket sits on the tallest ledge, almost reaching the top of the composition. It contains dark, plum-purple fruits, a golden loaf of bread in a white wrapper, and several translucent, glistening pieces of fruit in shades of brown and gold. Several long, garnet-red, finger-like objects are tucked among the fruit, and a braided white ring is propped in front. A ledge below this one starts in the lower left corner and spans just over half the width of the composition. Three terracotta vessels, a round, wooden box with its lid propped on its side, and a pewter-silver dish loaded with figs and baked sweets are arranged along the plinth, seeming close to us. Two long, fawn-brown, finger-like objects, perhaps more pastries, are tucked between the wooden box and a terracotta bowl. On the pewter dish, some of the pastries are round like doughnuts and sprinkled with white sugar, some curve in S-shapes, and at least one is long and straight. The third ledge extends from the center of the composition off the right edge, and it is situated behind the pewter dish and alongside the ledge with the basket. To the left on that ledge and at the center of the composition, a tall, rust-red vessel has a hollow center, creating a ring with a flaring foot. It has handles on the shoulders near the tall neck and spout. Shell shapes adorn the perimeter of the hollow center. A glass bowl filled with clear liquid and a round, glass jar filled with a red food, perhaps preserves, sit nearby. The jar sits in front of a translucent glass carafe, which is also tucked behind a stack of two round, lidded boxes, the one on top smaller than the one beneath. Another jar filled with cherry-red fruit sits atop the smaller box. The jars are sealed with twists of paper. The artist signed and dated the work as if he had inscribed the front face of the ledge near the lower right, “Juan vanderHamen i Leon fat 1627.”
Juan van der Hamen y León, Still Life with Sweets and Pottery, 1627, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.75

Still Life with Sweets and Pottery

Juan van der Hamen y León · 1627 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.9.75

Bibliography

1985

  • Jordan, William B. Spanish Still Life in the Golden Age. Exh. cat. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Toledo [Ohio] Museum of Art. Fort Worth, 1985: 103-124.

1990

  • Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 84.