Currently not on view
Still Life with Shells, Fruit, and Flowers
Balthasar van der Ast, 1593/4–1657; born Middleburg, Netherlands; died Delft, Netherlands
In addition to being a celebrated flower painter, Van der Ast had expert knowledge of exotic seashells, which were enthusiastically collected in the seventeenth-century Netherlands. Tropical specimens—like these cone shells, a miter snail, and a cowrie—were brought back to Holland by the Dutch East and West India Companies, where they found an eager market among a wealthy educated clientele. The refined execution of the painting makes it, too, a luxury collectible. The cut flowers strewn on the wide stone ledge, together with the short-lived insects and fruit in various stages of ripeness, might have served to remind the viewer of the fleeting quality of life. While the diagonal beam of light is unusual in Van der Ast’s paintings of this type, the decorative effect achieved by means of an apparently haphazard arrangement of highly detailed forms is often one of the most striking characteristics of his art.
More Context
Handbook Entry
In seventeenth-century Europe, Dutch artists were the leading innovators in the new genre of still life, and the practitioners chose specialties. Balthasar van der Ast, who was established in Middelburg and Utrecht before spending the greatest part of his career in Delft, painted combinations of flowers, fruits, and shells, either gathering the flowers in vases or spreading them on tables, as here. He was one of the earliest artists to add insects, like the worm, bumblebee, and mayfly in this painting. Hidden meanings are common in still life and can range from the cycle of seasons (spring flowers contrasting with summer fruits) to the continents (the exotic shells evoking distant oceans). On a spiritual level, the still life alludes to the vanitas theme since one of the plums has been partially eaten, and an insect’s life is notoriously short. Handbook of the Collections, 2013
Campus Voices
Shifting from the Bosschaert style pioneered by his master, Van der Ast began to paint looser and less symmetrical compositions, featuring a greater variety in the subjects he portrayed. Strewn across an unadorned stone ledge are flowers, shells, and fruits; behind them, across the back wall, spans a soft beam of light. Insects inject the stillness of this arrangement with a sense of movement.
Van der Ast plays with the different meanings associated with his compositional elements that may have come to viewers’ minds. The cut flowers and half-eaten plum suggest life’s ephemerality, and yet the liveliness of the insects counterbalances this theme of vanitas. The numerous shells might have served as an admonishment against material possession; perhaps in evoking exotic, faraway lands they also demonstrate an appreciation of the beauty and diversity of God’s creation.
Ezra Shin, Princeton Class of 2024
Information
Oil on wood panel
ca. 1630–40
24.1 x 32.3 cm (9 1/2 x 12 11/16 in.) frame: 41.3 x 49.2 x 5.1 cm (16 1/4 x 19 3/8 x 2 in.)
Anonymous gift
Private collection (until 1986; sale, Christie’s New York, January 15, 1986, lot 163); private collection, New Jersey (until 1990; sale, Christie’s New York, May 31, 1990, lot 147, bought in; anonymous gift to Princeton University Art Museum).
Important paintings by old masters: Wednesday, January 15, 1986, (New York: Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc., 1986)., lot 163
5160 1986Important paintings by Old Masters : Thursday, May 31, 1990, at 2:00 p.m. precisely, (New York, NY: Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc., 1990)., no. 147
5161 1990"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1994," <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>54, no. 1 (1995): p. 40-79., p. 46; p. 43 (illus.)
569 1995Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 132
1994 2013
