Pieter Claesz

Still life with overturned jug, glass of beer, and food, oil on canvas by Pieter Claesz, 1635; in a private collection.

Pieter Claesz (born 1597, Burgsteinfurt, bishopric of Münster [now Steinfurt, Germany]—buried January 1, 1661, Haarlem, Netherlands) was a Dutch painter who achieved a striking simplicity and atmospheric quality in still-life representations. Avoiding the crowded compositions and strong local coloring of the Mannerist tradition, he concentrated on the monochrome “breakfast piece,” the depiction of a simple meal set near the corner of a table. The play of light on the characteristic objects—a glass of wine, a knife, a metal plate with fish or bread, and a bowl of berries—creates a rich effect while preserving the solidity of the forms. His Still Life with a Burning Candle (1627) and the Breakfast Still Life (1647) show a subtle variation of closely related monochrome colors, which in his later, more Baroque work became stronger. Claesz’s increasingly decorative work after 1640 includes lavish still-life displays. His son, Nicolaes Berchem, was a famous landscape painter.