Art Institute of Chicago
Breakfast Still Life
Willem Claesz. Heda (Dutch, 1594-1680)LinkedCulture matchlcp-da5e07236754
- Date
- 1647
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 257286
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
This still life may look like a snapshot of an abandoned meal, but the scene is carefully arranged, revealing the artist’s ability to create complex but harmonious compositions with a limited palette of neutral colors. William Claesz. Heda balanced the horizontal pewter chargers in the foreground with the vertical glass vessels and salt-cellar in the background and positioned the overturned ewer diagonally to connect the two planes. Faint creases in the tablecloth, plates hanging precariously off the table’s edge, and the window reflected on the pitcher’s surface demonstrate the artist’s observant eye as well as his virtuosity in handling paint.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Bequest of Donald and Carol Asher
- Provenance
- Graf Medem, Elley, Courland [this and the following according to 1937 catalogue, Galerie Hans Bammann; copy in curatorial object file]. With Galerie Hans Bammann, Düsseldorf, 1937. With Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1938. Possibly with Douwes Amsterdam, c. 1940 [this according to online lot entry for this object, Christie’s, Amsterdam, November 14, 1991]. Acquired by R. Dreesmann, Zeist; thence by descent within the family; Christie’s, Amsterdam, November 14, 1991, lot 174. Sold, private collection, London, to Johnny Van Haeften, Ltd, London, Mar. 20, 2008 [stock no. 4194]; sold, Donald and Carol Asher, Winnetka, IL, Mar. 27, 2008 [according to Van Haeften invoice no. 23723; copy in curatorial object file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2023.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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