Still Life with Crab

Willem Claesz. Heda (Haarlem 1594 - Haarlem 1680)

1634. Oil/ wood. 38,5 x 56 cm. Lower middle faint signature Heda 1634. Small restorations. Heda was at the height of his fame and skill in the 1630's. Few artists achieved his mastery of composition, color and almost photorealistic rendering. - Expertise: We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the authenticity - Provenance: Baroness von Blomberg: Auction House Lempertz Cologne, 23 to 25 November 1903, Cat. No. 79; German family collection since at least the 1920s - Heda is one of the leading masters of Dutch still life painting of the Golden Age. Nothing is known about his training. In 1631, he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke, the professional association of artists, and subsequently served as its chairman on several occasions. He turned to still life painting at an early age and, alongside Pieter Claesz, who was the same age, developed into a leading master of the so-called ‘monochrome banquet’, in which a silvery overall tone and a rather sparse arrangement of rhythmically arranged objects on a breakfast table give the picture its character. Mus.: Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum), Paris (Louvre), St. Petersburg (Hermitage), Dresden (Gem.-Gal. Alter Meister), Madrid (Prado), Vienna (Kunsthist. Mus.), London (Nat. Gall.), New York (Metropolitan Museum), Den Haag (Mauritshuis), Rotterdam (Boijmans van Beuningen), Haarlem (Frans-Hals-Museum) a. others Lit.: Thieme-Becker, Bernt.