Lot 47: Pieter de Putter (The Hague 1600-1659)

Sea bream, a fishing basket and nets on a table signed with initials 'DPVTR. F' (DP linked, lower right) oil on panel 151/4 x 21 1/8 in. (38.7 x 53.7 cm.) NOTES De Putter was born in The Hague, where he specialised in still lifes of fish; he is believed to have been the teacher of Abraham van Beyeren. With its monochrome palette, enhanced by the silvers and whites of the glistening scales, this lot is a characteristic work of the artist, clearly influenced by the Haarlem painters of banketjes ; also typical here is the manner in which, unlike most of his contemporaries, De Putter, as noted by Drs. C.H. Breedveld ( De oorsprong van het visstilleven in de Nederlanden van de 17e eeuw, 1995, unpublished doctoral thesis), does not primarily depict fish as a foodstuff, but rather as game - a difference highlighted by his depiction of nets and other equipment. His work has therefore often been regarded as belonging to the same tradition as hunting still lifes.