A seventeenth-century viewer would have delighted in the vivid display of motifs described with such care here by Balthasar van der Ast. The composition’s possible associations are as diverse as the motifs themselves. The four elements—earth, air, water and fire—are symbolized by the fruit, the flowers, the crayfish and shells and the fine china plate, respectively. Birth, death and rebirth, parts of the natural cycle of life, are signified by the spring and summer flowers and the autumn fruits. Fallen petals and drying leaves atop the cluster of grapes underscore the passing of time.
Some of the objects here would have been particularly admired by an educated, affluent audience. The Chinese porcelain plate was a much sought-after appointment in the Dutch patrician home, and only a well-to-do household could have afforded a bouquet of flowers, particularly one with tulips, in a beautiful thorn-prunt beaker. Those viewers with an interest in nature’s curiosities would have been rewarded not only with the depiction of shells but also with the artist’s detailed description of insects and the bright red crayfish. In this way, the panel functioned like a collector’s cabinet full of the rare, exotic and beautiful, conveying a sense of wealth and connoisseurship.
Details
- Artist Name: Balthasar van der Ast (Dutch, 1593/4-1657)
- Title: Still Life with Fruits and Flowers
- Date: c. 1630
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 16-1/4 x 29-1/2 in. (41.3 x 74.9 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1972.43.4.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
[A. Brod, London, 1959].
[Kunsthandel Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, 1962].
[G. Cramer, The Hague, Holland];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
1948 Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Masters
- London, Eugene Slatter Gallery, 1948-05 to 1948-07
[unidentified exhibition]
- London, Eugene Slatter Gallery, 1950 to
Tentoonstelling van oude meesters
- Gebr. Douwes Fine Art, 1962-03-22 to 1962-04-22
Exhibition of Fine Paintings of the Seventeenth Century Dutch, Flemish, and French Schools
- London, H. Terry-Engell Gallery, 1962-11-06 to 1962-12-15
[on loan]
- Delft, Antieksbuers, 1963 to
[on loan]
- Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1972-10-01 to 1974-12-16
[unidentified exhibition]
- Italy, 1962 to
24e Oude Kunst en Antiekbeurs
- Het Prinsenhof Museum, 1972-09 to 1972-10
Nature Transformed
- Norton Simon Museum, 2004-10-08 to 2005-02-28
Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life
- Norton Simon Museum, 2012-07-20 to 2013-01-21
Tulips are in Bloom
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-04-29 to 1993-08
- Gerson, Horst, The Connoisseur, 164
- Kahr, Madlyn Millner, Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century, fig. 147 pp. 193-194
- Norton Simon Museum Education Department, Los Angeles Times, p. E18
- Eugene Slatter Gallery, 1948 Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Masters, 1948, no. 21
- Bol, Laurens, The Bosschaert Dynasty, 1960, no. 98 p. 82
- H. Terry-Engell Gallery, Exhibition of Fine Paintings of the Seventeenth Century Dutch, Flemish and French Schools, 1962, no. 1
- Kunsthandel Gebr. Douwes, Tentoonstelling van oude meesters, 1962, no. 1
- Antiekbuers, 1963,
- Graevenitz, Antje von, Die Kunst und Weltkunst, 1972, pp. 1185-1186
- Olbricht, Klaus-Hartmut, Die Kunst und das schöne Hiem, 1972, p. 756
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 49
- Sutton, Peter C., A Guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, fig. 311 p. 215
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 72
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 858 p. 345
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