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Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten (21 April 1630 – 10 July 1700) was a Dutch painter of still lifes, in particular floral and
at the Frans Halsmuseum
at the
at the Royal Collection Trust
in Arnold Houbraken, ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'', 1718 Van Roestraeten lived on the south side of King's Street. This put him in close proximity to the Palace of Whitehall and to the studios of other artists, including Peter Lely and John Michael Wright. When his first wife died he remarried, but died soon afterwards. He was buried on 10 July 1700 in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Van Roestraten was principally a still life painter. Most of his still lifes are
at the Victoria and Albert Museum The various objects in these compositions serve as symbols that can be read as an admonition or a life lesson. The objects usually imply a vanitas meaning as they refer to the transience and emptiness of wealth and possessions and the ultimate extinction and emptiness of earthly life. An example is the ''Vanitas still life'' at the Royal Collection Trust. It includes several objects that invoke the vanitas meaning: a skull, a glass orb and a pocket watch. The book is open at a print of a laughing Democritus inscribed in Latin with lines which can be translated as: 'Everyone is sick from birth / vanity is ruining the world'. In the suspended glass sphere in the composition can be seen the reflection of a room and the figure of an artist looking towards the viewer, probably a self-portrait. Self-portraits have been identified in at least nine of van Roestraten's still lifes.
Van Rosetraten painted a number of self-portraits, four of which are preserved. These all show the artist holding objects that appear in his still lifes, including glassware, a clay pipe and a lemon. In one self-portrait he holds a very large wineglass, perhaps in reference to Bacchus or the sense of taste. It may be a reference to Pieter Gerritsz Roestraten, ''The licentious kitchen maid''
on the website of the Frans Halsmuseum
He influenced
vanitas
A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are ''v ...
still lifes. He also painted genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other ...
scenes and portraits. After starting his career in Haarlem, he worked most of his career in London where he enjoyed the patronage of the highest circles.Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraetenat the Frans Halsmuseum
Life
He was a student ofFrans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem.
Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century gro ...
in Haarlem for at least five years starting from 1649. He moved in 1651 to Amsterdam where he lived in the Anthonie Breestraat. He married a daughter of Hals called Adriaentje in 1654.Pieter Gerritsz van Roestratenat the
Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center ...
He lived with his wife in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
before moving to London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1666. The same year he was injured in the hip during the great fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...
, an injury that caused him to walk with a limp the rest of his life.
He was likely introduced to king Charles II by Sir Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.
Life
Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch ...
on the condition that he paint no portraits. Roestraten took the advice and stuck to still life painting. He was successful as he could earn forty to fifty pounds sterling for a still life.Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten, ''A Vanitas'' c.1666-1700at the Royal Collection Trust
in Arnold Houbraken, ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'', 1718 Van Roestraeten lived on the south side of King's Street. This put him in close proximity to the Palace of Whitehall and to the studios of other artists, including Peter Lely and John Michael Wright. When his first wife died he remarried, but died soon afterwards. He was buried on 10 July 1700 in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Work
Van Roestraten was principally a still life painter. Most of his still lifes are pronkstilleven
''Pronkstilleven'' ( Dutch for 'ostentatious', 'ornate' or 'sumptuous' still life) is a style of ornate still life painting, which was developed in the 1640s in Antwerp from where it spread quickly to the Dutch Republic.
Development
Flemish art ...
s (i.e. ostentatious still lifes) and vanitas still lifes. In his pronkstillevens he could display his ability to depict reflective surfaces of metal objects and, in particular, silver. These paintings can to a certain extent be regarded as 'portraits' of the objects owned by his aristocratic patrons.Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten, ''Porringer and Nautilus Cup''at the Victoria and Albert Museum The various objects in these compositions serve as symbols that can be read as an admonition or a life lesson. The objects usually imply a vanitas meaning as they refer to the transience and emptiness of wealth and possessions and the ultimate extinction and emptiness of earthly life. An example is the ''Vanitas still life'' at the Royal Collection Trust. It includes several objects that invoke the vanitas meaning: a skull, a glass orb and a pocket watch. The book is open at a print of a laughing Democritus inscribed in Latin with lines which can be translated as: 'Everyone is sick from birth / vanity is ruining the world'. In the suspended glass sphere in the composition can be seen the reflection of a room and the figure of an artist looking towards the viewer, probably a self-portrait. Self-portraits have been identified in at least nine of van Roestraten's still lifes.
Van Rosetraten painted a number of self-portraits, four of which are preserved. These all show the artist holding objects that appear in his still lifes, including glassware, a clay pipe and a lemon. In one self-portrait he holds a very large wineglass, perhaps in reference to Bacchus or the sense of taste. It may be a reference to Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of t ...
's ''Boy Drinking'' (
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...
).
He also painted a number of genre scenes. An example is the ''The dissolute kitchen maid'' (1665, Frans Halsmuseum). While it looks like a scene from daily life, it has a clear erotic meaning. The woman is acting in a shameless manner. A monkey, the symbol of wanton behaviour, leers up her dress. It is on a chain thus reminding us that man is a prisoner of his sinful desires. The picture conveys a moral message, reflected in the old man's raised finger: beware of sinful behaviour.on the website of the Frans Halsmuseum
Christian Berentz
Christian Berentz or Bernetz (1658–1722) was a German Baroque painter.
Biography
Berentz was born in Hamburg, Germany. According to the RKD pupil he was the pupil of Hermann Kamphusen from 1667 to 1673 and then from 1673 to 1677 a pupil of Ge ...
and Robert Robinson. Around 1990 Fred Meijer of the Netherlands Institute for Art History created the notname 'Pseudo-Roestraten' for an unknown artist to whom he attributed a large number of still lifes with books, documents and precious objects in a style somewhat related to that of Pieter van Roestraeten.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roestraten, Pieter Gerritz Van 1630 births 1700 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch still life painters Dutch portrait painters Dutch genre painters Artists from Haarlem