Lot 60: * PIETER CLAESZ. BURGSTEINFURT CIRCA 1579- HAARLEM 1660

signed with monogram and dated middle left PC 1654

BANQUET STILL LIFE WITH A CRAB ON A SILVER PLATTER, A BUNCH OF GRAPES, A BOWL OF OLIVES, AND A PEELED LEMON ALL RESTING ON A DRAPED TABLE

22 3/4 by 28 3/4 in.; 57.8 by 73 cm.

oil on panel

Delft, Prinsenhof Museum, 'Oude Kunst - en Antiekbeurs', 1950;
Dordrechts, Dordrechts Museum, Nederlandse Stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw, July 21-Steptember 2, 1962, p. 22, cat. no. 35, illustrated plate 59;
London, H. Terry-Engell Gallery, Fifteen Important Old Master Paintings, 1965-1966.

Burlington Magazine, October, 1965, vol. 107, p. 31 (advertisement);
N.R.A. Vroom, A Modest Message as intimated by the painters of the 'Monochrome Banketje', p. 38, reproduced no. 162.

PROPERTY OF A LADY

E. Hertzberger, Aedenhout, Holland;
With H. Terry-Engell Gallery London, 1965-1966;
From whom purchased by the present owner.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague who, based on photographs, has confirmed the present painting to be by Pieter Claesz.

The present panel, dated 1654, is a beautiful example of Claesz.'s mature style. One of the greatest innovators in the genre of Dutch still life painting, in the 1640s the artist had become known for his monochromatic breakfast still lifes, restrained in their composition, and subdued in their palette. By the early 1650's, however, he began to expand the range of colors that he used, and to arrange the elements in his compositions in an elaborate manner to produce a more luxurious effect. It seems likely that this new direction was in reaction in some part to the fashion for the more elaborate pieces being produced by his contemporaries, but also in some measure to Claesz.'s own predilection for innovation which he demonstrated from the beginning of his career.