Fruit, Flowers, and Shells

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Fruit, Flowers, and Shells

Artist Balthasar van der Ast Dutch, 1593/94-1657

Dateabout 1620 - 29

DimensionsPainting: 21 3/4 × 35 1/8 in. (55.2 × 89.2 cm)
Frame: 28 1/4 × 41 1/2 × 3 in. (71.8 × 105.4 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumoil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1951.381

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 22

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesBol, L. J., "Een Middelburgse Brueghelgroep (Part III: In Bosschaerts Spoor, I. Balthasar van der Ast)," Oud Holland, LXX, 1955, p. 142, n. 26.

Lindesmith, K., "The good things in life," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 1, no. 3, Fall 1957, p. 16-17, repr. p. 16.

Connoisseur, vol. 142, no. 571, August 1958, p. 64.

Bol, L. J., The Bosschaert Dynasty, Leigh-on-Sea, 1960, p. 83, no. 104.

"Details, European Paintings," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 4, no. 1, Winter 1961, p. 19.

Neugass, F., "Rembrandt und seine Zeit," Weltkunst, vol. 37, no. 4, February 15, 1967, p. 124, repr. (b&w).

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 474, repr. (b&w) fig. 18.

Mitchell, P., European Flower Painters, London, 1973, p. 40, fig. 40.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 19, pl. 94.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 52.

Haak, Bob, The Golden Age: Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, New York, 1984, p. 119, fig. 222.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 84, repr. (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 157, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Rare and Wondrous: Birds in Art and Culture, 1620-1820, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2021, p.12-13 [exh. catalogue].

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Slatter, Masterpieces of Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century, 1945, no. 25.

Champaign, University of Illinois, Great Traditions in Painting from Midwest Collections, 1955, no. 1, repr.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Rembrandt, 1966, no. 99, repr. Boston, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1966.

San Francisco, California Palace or the Legion of the Honor, 1966.

Label TextA profusion of flowers, shells, fruit, and living creatures fills a ledge in Balthasar van der Ast’s carefully composed still life. Dutch and Flemish artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were especially admired for their realistic renderings of the colors, textures, and shapes of both animate and inanimate objects. In this painting Van der Ast places most of the elements in distinct spaces, so that each one can be examined more carefully. The array of objects creates a feast for the eyes, but also reflects the scientific revolution that had taken place in astronomy, natural history, and physics from the 1400s to the 1600s. Amateur naturalists and collectors of curiosities cherished shells from the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean; coveted rare tulips, introduced to Europe from Turkey around 1550; and even kept such exotic creatures as parrots, lizards, and crickets as pets. Trade with the East also brought examples of Asian art and craft to the Netherlands, such as the Chinese blue-and-white Wan-li porcelain vase seen here (enhanced with a gilded base made by a European goldsmith).