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Dutch, 1596/1597 - 1660
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Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Pieter Claesz,” NGA Online Editions, https://purl.org/nga/collection/constituent/18426 (accessed January 27, 2023).
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Pieter Claesz, the most important still-life painter in Haarlem in the 1620s, was born in Berchem in 1596 or 1597.[1] He was apparently admitted to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1620, but by 1621 he must have been living in Haarlem, where his son, landscape painter
Claesz’s teacher is unknown, but his earliest dated works evoke the meticulous laid table scenes of the Antwerp painters Clara Peeters (c. 1594–1657) and
Claesz’s innovative compositions and his distinctive ability to recombine the same set of objects into a multitude of original and compelling arrangements influenced artists in Haarlem and beyond. When the Haarlem painter
[1] Documents notarized by Samuel Coesaert on September 29, 1640 and October 2, 1640 describe Claesz as about forty-three years old; see Martina Brunner-Bulst, Pieter Claesz.: Der Hauptmeister des Haarlemer Stillebens im 17. Jahrhundert: Kritischer Œuvrekatalog (Lingen, 2004), 134.
[2] A “Pieter Clasen(s)” was admitted as a master in the Antwerp guild in 1620; Ph. Rombouts and Th. von Lerius, De Liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, 2 vols., (Amsterdam, 1961), 1:560–561.
[3] Hessel Miedema, De archiefsbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497-1789, 2 vols, (Alphen aan de Rijn, 1980), 2:420.
[4] Claesz’s death in late 1660 is confirmed by records of the Haarlem Municipal Orphanage, which took in his daughters on January 3, 1661; see Pieter Biesboer et al., Pieter Claesz: Master of Haarlem Still Life (Exh. cat: Haarlem, Zürich, Washington, 2004), 136–137.
[5] Samuel Ampzing, Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland, (Haarlem, 1628), 372.
[6] J.G. van Gelder, “De schilders van de Oranjezaal,” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, vol. 11, 1948/49: 126–7.
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
June 14, 2015