Dutch still-life painter, the brother-in-law of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, with whom he trained in Middelburg. He worked in Utrecht before settling in Delft in 1632. His touch was less exquisite than Bosschaert’s, but his range was wider, his paintings often including fruit and shells as well as flowers. Jan Davidsz. de Heem was his pupil in Utrecht.
Typically, Italian and French fruit still-lifes in the 17th century tend towards a strictly objective description of the actual phenomena. The Dutch, on the other hand, were still in the tradition of “disguised symbolism” (Erwin Panofsky) as something that gave depth to empirical precision. Balthasar van der Ast’s Fruit Basket, for example, contains enough additional elements to show that he is concerned with more than a realistic rendering.
The vanitas theme is emphasized by the presence of bruises, bad spots and wormholes, as well as insects such as butterflies, dragonflies and house flies, as well as a lizard - a rather unusual sight on a table - which is nibbling at one of the apples outside the basket. Grapes of course, often has a christological reference. If we consider further that, in the context of Virgin Mary, apples symbolize redemption and victory over sin, whereas insects and lizards were often associated with the principle of evil, then this harmless everyday motif suddenly turns into a scene (though on a smaller scale) of good versus evil in the history of salvation.
This small, jewel-like copper shows a bouquet of flowers on a ledge, together with a shell and a grasshopper, a panoramic landscape beyond. In it, Balthasar van der Ast pays direct homage to his brother-in-law and likely teacher, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.
This still-life includes tulips, roses, an iris and lily of the valley in an ornate glass jug on a stone ledge with a lizard and a shell. While many of Van der Ast’s flower pieces are lavishly composed with a wide assortment of blooms, here he has pared down his composition to a simpler but more elegant form.
This flower still-life depicts a crown imperial lily, tulips, irises, roses, carnations, aquilegia, fritillaries and other flowers in a sculpted urn, with seashells on a stone ledge, a lizard, a caterpillar, red admirals, a dragonfly and a bee, a curtain draped above. Noteworthy are the extremely large shells featured at the base of this composition.
This painting is one of few large-scale upright compositions of fruit or flowers painted by the artist in his entire career. It is signed lower left: B. van der. Ast.
In the centre of this painting is a bouquet of flowers in a ceramic vase placed on a stone ledge. Richly patterned seashells - a characteristic feature of Van der Ast’s still-lifes - and a grasshopper are arranged to the sides of the vase. Other insects populating the scene are a bee hovering on the right, a spider crawling on the petals of the yellow rose, and a butterfly resting on the iris at the top. The painting reveals the artist’s debt to his teacher Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.
This drawing belongs to a series of at least 483 sheets representing flowers, shells, and insects. The monogram BA that appears on almost every drawing of this series differs from Van der Ast’s usual signature. The monogram may have been introduced by a later owner.
Inscribed in calligraphy: Bruijn gewatert Belleken; lower right BA.
This painting depicts a still-life of variegated tulips in a ceramic vase, with a wasp, a dragonfly, a butterfly and a lizard. It is a characteristic work from the mid-1620s and displays many of the artist’s topoi.
This painting depicts a still-life with fruit basket, fruits and shellfish.
This painting depicts a still-life with roses, tulips, irises and other flowers in a wicker basket, with fruit and insects on a ledge. The influence of Balthasar van der Ast’s brother-in-law and teacher, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, is plainly visible in the motifs, the overall composition, and in the painterly effects of this still-life.
This small panel shows roses with a butterfly and a grasshopper, together with forget-me-nots, primroses and a sand lizard on a stone ledge. It is an example Van der Ast’s virtuosity on a small scale.
This painting depicts a still-life with a Delft bowl containing fruit, on a ledge with flowers, insects and a lizard.
This painting depicts a still-life of fruit and shells with a rose and various insects upon a stone ledge.
In this horizontal still-life Van der Ast presents a variety of seashells, flowers, and insects on a stone surface. At the centre is a horn-shaped shell holding an arrangement of flowers. The painter avoided any overlap or clustering of the shells so that each one can be scrutinized individually.
Still-life paintings were popular in Dutch art and began to emerge as a genre in their own right during the 16th century. Despite their popularity with the general public, art academies of the period did not regard them as highly as landscape or religious paintings.
Balthasar van der Ast learnt to paint from his brother-in-law, Ambrosius Bosschaert. He also specialized in flower still-lifes though he differed from his teacher in his preference for more complex compositions. In this still-life of 1618, he placed two bouquets against the splendid backdrop of Renaissance architecture, which was probably painted by Bartholomeus van Bassen. This strikingly asymmetrical painting is exceptionally large for a still-life, its nearly square format is a rare occurrence in 17th-century Dutch painting.
While the careers of many Dutch artists can be followed through a large number of drawings as well as paintings, that is not the case with Balthasar van der Ast. Of his drawings we know one large series of works perhaps made over a period of several years, a sheet of still-life in the British Museum, London, and scarcely anything else. The series of drawings served Van der Ast as a source of motifs for a number of his paintings. The British Museum’s still-life was obviously not meant as a study but as a finished product. The delicately balanced arrangement of fruit and shells laid out more or less parallel to the picture plane and the placement of insects lend the work an airy, decorative quality.
This still-life, unlike van der Ast’s early ones, the arrangement of the still-life looks quite natural, as if the artist simply portraying a basket that he had filled with fresh flowers in his studio. However, the painting was almost certainly carefully composed on the canvas, with the aid of individual studies of the various flowers and other motifs.
Bosschaert’s type of flower piece remained popular until after the middle of the 17th century. His most interesting follower is his brother-in-law Balthasar van der Ast who manages to avoid the hard, metallic quality of so many others influenced by Bosschaert. Van der Ast’s paintings are more varied than Bosschaert’s, and they frequently include lively lizards and toads. His particular speciality is the still-life composed exclusively of shells.
While the careers of many Dutch artists can be followed through a large number of drawings as well as paintings, that is not the case with Balthasar van der Ast. Of his drawings we know one large series of works perhaps made over a period of several years, a sheet of still-life in the British Museum, London, and scarcely anything else. The series of drawings served Van der Ast as a source of motifs for a number of his paintings.
This drawing belongs to a series of at least 483 sheets representing flowers, shells, and insects. The monogram BA that appears on almost every drawing of this series differs from Van der Ast’s usual signature. The monogram may have been introduced by a later owner.
Inscribed in calligraphy: Admirael Brabanson; lower right BA.
This is one of the elaborate still-life compositions painted by Van der Ast during his Delft years. The setting shows resemblance to early genre interiors by De Hooch and Vermeer, in particular Vermeer’s Letter Reader in Dresden. Van der Ast’s still-lifes from this period are characterized by their exceptional refinement of execution, variety of motifs, and scale.
