73 / 148
3046*
CLAESZ., PIETER(Berchem/Antwerp 1597 - 1661 Haarlem)
Still life with smoker’s requisites, a large pewter
flagon, a stoneware pitcher on its side, a beer
glass and a herring. 1627.
Oil on panel.
Monogrammed and dated lower left: PC A
1627.
50.2 x 74.6 cm.
Provenance:
- E. Slatter Gallery, London, 1943.
- Otto Wertheimer collection, Paris, 1952.
- Mitchell Gallery, London 1957.
- Private collection, London.
- Galerie Weil, 1960.
- Private collection, Switzerland.
- Kunsthandel Böhler, Munich, 1966.
- Kunsthandel Scheidwimmer, Munich, 1973.
- Private collection, Paris, 1990.
- Auction Christie's, London, 23 April 1993, lot
182.
- J. M. B. Guttmann Gallery, Los Angeles,
1994.
- European private collection.
Exhibited:
- London, E. Slatter Gallery, 1943, Flower and
Still-Life Paintings by Dutch and Flemish
Masters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Century.
- Paris, Galerie A. Weil, April/May 1960, La
nature morte et son inspiration, no. 12 with ill.
- Paris, Institut Néerlandais, 1965, Le décor de
la vie privée en Hollande au XVIIe siècle, no.
13. with ill.
- Munich, Kunsthandel Böhler, June 1966, no.
4 with ill.
Literature:
- Exh. Cat. Le décor de la vie privée en Hollan-
de au XVIIe siècle, Institut Néerlandais, Paris
1965, p. 25, no. 13, pl. 4.
- Brunner-Bulst, Martina: Pieter Claesz. Der
Hauptmeister des Haarlemer Stillebens im 17.
Jahrhundert. Kritischer Oeuvrekatalog, Lingen
2004, no. 29, p. 220, with ill. and on fronti-
spiece.
Haarlem was among the most important art
centres in Holland during the early 17th century.
Many artists emigrated from Flanders to the
Netherlands at this time, whether because of
their Protestant beliefs or due to the poor econo-
mic climate there, attracted by the commercial
prosperity and growing affluence of the Dutch,
particularly in Haarlem. Along with textile
manufacturers, breweries were especially suc-
cessful, and beer was the most common drink,
since drinking water was often contaminated at
this time. The favourable economic conditions
stimulated the rise of a prosperous middle class
in Haarlem, ultimately creating a significant
consumer base for the arts.
Into this society Pieter Claesz. settled in
1620-22. Born in Berchem near Antwerp in
1597, Claesz. was almost certainly trained as
an artist within the circles of the Antwerp still
life painters Osias Beert (ca. 1580-1623) and
Clara Peeters (active 1607-1621 or later), and
the influence of their work is evident in his early
paintings. Once in Haarlem, his work began to
show the influence of the older generation of still
life painters there, such as Floris van Dijck (1575-
1651), Nicolaes Gillis (ca. 1575/80 – after 1632)
and Floris van Schooten (ca. 1580-1656).
Banketje still lifes, which typically depict a meal
amidst an arrangement of tableware, were a spe-
ciality of Netherlandish painting during the Gol-
den Age, particularly in Haarlem, and were in
great demand during the 17th century. The large
museum-quality work offered here, which has
not been available for public viewing for quite
some time, belongs to this category. It is also of
the toebackje, or smoking requisites variant, and
this paraphernalia is depicted alongside a large
pewter flagon on a plate, a knopped beer glass, a
sliced herring, bread and a knife, all arranged on
a table. Particularly interesting is the monochro-
me tonality of this work, composed primarily of
brown and grey tones and uniquely articulated
through dramatically staged light. This reduced
palette is a particular characteristic of Claesz.’s
Haarlem still lifes. The depiction of the smoker’s
requisites is considered to be an artistic inventi-
on of Claesz.’s, as these motifs first appeared in
his work as early as 1622 (Brunner-Bulst, ibid.,
no. 4, pp. 207-208).
The combination of smoking requisites with the
eating utensils of a banketjes still life, as in the
present work, appears in two other smaller-for-
mat works by Claesz. from 1627: one is presently
in San Diego’s Timken Art Gallery (36.2 x 57.5
cm, oil on panel, ibid. no. 28), and the other (the
composition of which also includes onions) is in
a private collection (ibid., no. 30, 37.5 x 47.5 cm,
oil on panel).
Dr. Martina Brunner-Bulst, who has examined
the present work in the original, selected it
to illustrate the frontispiece of her catalogue
raisonné on Pieter Claesz., thus eloquently
expressing the importance of this work within
the artist’s oeuvre.
CHF 500 000 / 700 000
(€ 463 000 / 648 100
3046
Ausklapper
| 71