Dutch painter. He joined the Guild of St Luke in Leiden in 1658. Later, he became court painter to the Great Elector in Berlin. Then he returned to his native town of Gouda. He was specialized in flower still-lifes.
Optical illusionistic effects were intended by a number of 17th-century Dutch still-life painters with their “paintings of paintings”, where a curtain, draped aside, seems to be hanging in front of a painting. This genre of still-life was known as a “bedriegertje” (little trickster).
Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 7 minutes):
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, ballet suite, op. 71, Waltz of the Flowers
