Balthasar van der Ast

Dutch, 1593/1594 - 1657

Balthasar van der Ast was born in Middelburg. The date of his birth is not recorded, but legal documents indicate that Balthasar reached the age of maturity (twenty-five) between June 30, 1618, and September 13, 1619. He had been orphaned when his father, Hans, a wealthy widower, died in 1609. Balthasar then may have lived with his older sister Maria and her husband, the still-life painter Bosschaert, Ambrosius, whose work had an impact on the precise technique and symmetrical compositions of Van der Ast’s early paintings. Van der Ast seems to have accompanied his brother-in-law when he moved from Middelburg to Bergen op Zoom in 1615 and then to Utrecht the following year.

In 1619 Van der Ast joined the Saint Luke’s Guild in Utrecht. While there he probably trained Bosschaert’s three sons after their father died in 1621. He also taught Heem, Jan Davidsz de. Influenced by the Utrecht painter Savery, Roelandt, Van der Ast began to paint in a softer, more atmospheric manner and to animate his still lifes with small animals and insects. In 1632 he moved to Delft and joined the Saint Luke’s Guild there. Although most of his still lifes are modest in scale, he painted a number of larger canvases during his Delft period that reflect a looser style. Van der Ast married Margrieta Jans van Buijeren in Delft on February 26, 1633; the couple had two children. Van der Ast died in December 1657 and was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft.

Explore Selected Works

A basket overflowing with flowers sits on a table alongside fruit, berries, and seashells in this horizontal still life painting. The wide, low straw-colored basket has a woven base and more open, rib-like sides. The bouquet is made up of white and pink roses, a sky-blue iris and another with pale yellow and lavender-purple leaves. There are also a carnation striped with red and white, flame-orange poppies, and at least three tulips, including one that is scarlet red, a white tulip veined with red, and one with red petals streaked with yellow. Other flowers and dark green stems and leaves fill out the arrangement. The basket sits on a slate-gray tabletop that extends off both sides of the painting. Four shells sit to our left of the basket. These include a woodcock murex shell with a spiraling head with spikes and a long, spiny tail; an elongated, smooth conch shell with an ivory-white and brown calico surface; and light blue snail shell. Finally, closest to us, the largest, spiraling triton shell is occupied by a hermit crab. A sprig of glowing red berries sits at the front center of the composition. To our right, a cluster of fruit includes purple and green grapes on the vines, red cherries, a red plum, and two pieces of yellow and blush-pink fruit. The scene is lit from our left against a darkened background, so a dragonfly in the upper right corner is nearly lost in shadow. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “B.vander.ast.”
Balthasar van der Ast, Basket of Flowers, c. 1622, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.2

Basket of Flowers

Balthasar van der Ast · c. 1622 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.2

A basket holding a pile of several kinds of fruit and two blue and white porcelain plates nearly fills this horizontal still life painting. More fruit is scattered around the smoke-gray ledge on which the basket sits, and the background is purple-tinged gray. The basket sits near the back edge of the ledge, and it has ribbed sides so pieces of round fruit, perhaps apples, are visible inside. Green, red, and purple grapes, green and orange grape leaves, apples, plums, apricots, an orange, and a quince are piled between the two blue-painted plates, which are propped in the basket at an angle to hold the fruit like cupped hands. More fruit, including plums, quince, cherries, and medlars, cover most of the ledge around the basket. The scene is lit from our left so the fruit casts shadows to our right. The artist signed the painting near the lower right corner, “B. vander. ast.”
Balthasar van der Ast, Basket of Fruits, c. 1622, oil on panel, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1992.51.1

Basket of Fruits

Balthasar van der Ast · c. 1622 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1992.51.1

Bibliography

1960

  • Bol, Laurens J. The Bosschaert Dynasty: Painters of Flowers and Fruit. Translated by A.M. de Bruin-Cousins. Leigh-on-Sea, 1960.

1982

  • Bol, Laurens J. 'Goede onbekenden': Hedendaagse herkenning en waardering van verscholen, voorbijgezien en onderschat talent. Utrecht, 1982: 52-56.

1993

  • Meijer, Fred J. "Balthasar van der Ast." In Dawn of the Golden Age: Northern Netherlandish Art 1580-1620. Amsterdam, 1993: 299.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 5.