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Pieter Claesz: Master of Haarlem Still Life

September 18 – December 31, 2005
West Building Main Floor

Willem Claesz Heda, Banquet Piece with Mince Pie, 1635, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1991.87.1

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 30 still-life paintings by 17th-century Dutch artist Pieter Claesz were included in this first international exhibition of his work, along with 6 still lifes by his predecessors and contemporaries Floris van Dijck, Willem Claesz Heda, Gerret Willemsz Heda, Osias Beert the Elder, and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Decorative objects and books from the period were displayed in cases in the Dutch Cabinet Galleries. Among them was the gilt cup of the Haarlem brewer's guild, which appears in one of the Claesz paintings in the exhibition. The exhibition was a variant of the earlier presentations in Haarlem and Zürich.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a 2-part lecture program was presented by the exhibition curator, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., and by author and food historian Peter G. Rose.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, and the Kunsthaus Zürich. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery, was curator in Washington.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible through the support of Greg and Candy Fazakerley. It also was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Attendance: 112,290

Catalog: Pieter Claesz: Master of Haarlem Still Life, by Pieter Biesboer et al. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers, 2004.

Brochure: Pieter Claesz: Master of Haarlem Still Life, by Margaret Doyle. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005.

Other Venues: Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, November 27, 2004–April 3, 2005
Kunsthaus Zürich, April 22–August 21, 2005

Claesz, Pieter
Dutch, 1596 - 1660
Heda, Willem Claesz
Dutch, 1594 - 1680
Heda, Gerret Willemsz
Dutch, 1620 - 1661
Beert the Elder, Osias
Flemish, 1580 - 1624
Brueghel the Elder, Jan
Flemish, 1568 - 1625