Willem van Aelst (1626-1683) - Dutch Baroque painter, master of still life.

Artist Willem van Aelst 

Willem van Aelst's still lifes differ from those of his Dutch compatriots in the abundance of antique Renaissance trinkets. For the beautiful depiction of flowers and fruit pieces on their canvases, many researchers rank Willem van Aelst as one of the followers of Willem Kalf (1619 - 1693), one of the most famous Dutch still life masters.

He also painted a number of elegant hunting still lifes that show very close and detailed killed game, meticulously painted hunting bags, horns, bells and other details from the hunting world. All these hunting supplies are arranged on a marble ledge, casually arranged on an expensive velvet hunting bag, embroidered in gold, decorated with fringes and tassels. From birds - trophies, partridges, fattening up fat, and other small birds. Perhaps because of this, his nickname stuck to the artist - "stuffed bird", tk. for a long time, while still in Italy to practice perfection in writing birds, he worked and painted in the poultry yard.

His still lifes often feature an exquisite blue velvet, indicating that Willem van Aelst used a very expensive lazurite pigment that appeared at that time - ultramarine for paints, which was imported from China. The use of such a pigment further enhanced the value of the artist's paintings, and dictated their purpose only for wealthy houses. Most Dutch artists used cheaper and less stable pigments. Since 1657. the artist remained to live in Amsterdam, where he died in 1683. His paintings are very popular to this day.