Jan Davidsz de Heem

Jan Davidsz de Heem was a Dutch painter regarded as one of the greatest still-life artists of the Golden Age. Born in Utrecht in 1606, he worked in both the Netherlands and Antwerp and became famous for lavish, richly detailed arrangements of fruit, flowers, glassware, and fine objects. His tables groan with abundance, painted with dazzling skill and glowing color.

His works often carry quiet symbolic meaning, hinting at the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures beneath their gorgeous surfaces. He influenced a whole generation of still-life painters in both countries. De Heem's opulent, beautifully crafted still lifes are among the high points of seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish painting.