Once peace has returned, the religious wars give way to highly differentiated sensitivities between Catholics and Protestants. Haarlem becomes the center of an intense Protestant cultural activity animated in the 1620s by Samuel Ampzing.
A tireless pamphleteer, Ampzing is also a theorist promoting purism in poetry in order to avoid using words of foreign origin. Much committed in the artistic life of Haarlem, he knows Hals, orders to Saenredam the topographical illustrations of the city and does not omit to support Claesz and Heda.
A painter of vanities from his beginnings, Pieter Claesz is interested in light. He develops his art around a geometry that must be faultless, with the whole complexity of the more or less intense reflection on glass or pewter along with the refraction through glass and liquid. The reflective surfaces reveal the out of field origin of the light rays.
From 1627 Claesz and Heda innovate simultaneously by a dramatic restriction of the color palette, in a trend that was already tested by landscape painters. Claesz is considered as the pioneer of this style in still life but Ampzing equally acclaims in 1628 both artists of whom it is difficult to identify whether they were friends or competitors.
On July 6 in London, Sotheby's sells a still life of breakfast painted in 1629 by Claesz, oil on panel 45 x 61 cm, lot 15 estimated £ 1.8M. He positioned on the table a big roemer half full of wine, a laid Venice-style glass and several tin plates. The only bright color is the yellow of the lemons. Some green olives complement the composition.
unsold
A tireless pamphleteer, Ampzing is also a theorist promoting purism in poetry in order to avoid using words of foreign origin. Much committed in the artistic life of Haarlem, he knows Hals, orders to Saenredam the topographical illustrations of the city and does not omit to support Claesz and Heda.
A painter of vanities from his beginnings, Pieter Claesz is interested in light. He develops his art around a geometry that must be faultless, with the whole complexity of the more or less intense reflection on glass or pewter along with the refraction through glass and liquid. The reflective surfaces reveal the out of field origin of the light rays.
From 1627 Claesz and Heda innovate simultaneously by a dramatic restriction of the color palette, in a trend that was already tested by landscape painters. Claesz is considered as the pioneer of this style in still life but Ampzing equally acclaims in 1628 both artists of whom it is difficult to identify whether they were friends or competitors.
On July 6 in London, Sotheby's sells a still life of breakfast painted in 1629 by Claesz, oil on panel 45 x 61 cm, lot 15 estimated £ 1.8M. He positioned on the table a big roemer half full of wine, a laid Venice-style glass and several tin plates. The only bright color is the yellow of the lemons. Some green olives complement the composition.
unsold
#Claesz, the Picasso of the Dutch Golden Age to highlight our #OldMasters sale tomorrow https://t.co/m0MSMOCSJ3 pic.twitter.com/rLCjXhEftt
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 5, 2016
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