Jan Davidsz. de Heem
Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1684) was one of the best still-life painters of the 17th century. His work, which is enchanting to the eye, has always enjoyed international fame. Throughout his painting career of nearly 60 years, de Heem continued to search for new and better ways to depict his subjects. He trained several pupils and had countless followers and imitators, in the Netherlands as well as abroad, and throughout the centuries. The fact that he was active in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands enhanced his success and fame. He worked successively in Leiden, (presumably) in Amsterdam, in Antwerp, in Utrecht and again in Antwerp.
De Heem is perhaps best known for his exuberant floral still lifes, which, however, were mainly created after 1660. By then, already for decades, he had painted still lifes of many themes and motifs, and in a variety of sizes, modest as well as luxurious. In Antwerp he had developed the large, rich still lifes which earned him part of his renown.
This comprehensive monograph written by Fred G. Meijer, contains the complete catalogue of de Heem's oeuvre. Volume 1 includes an introduction, a biography and description of the development of his work. Volume 2 contains the catalogue raisonné of all paintings now known by de Heem, as well as several appendices.
Fred G. Meijer (1955) graduated from the Reinwardt Academie in 1980 and shortly after started at the RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History, in The Hague, where he worked until mid-2017, lastly as Senior Curator in the department of Old Netherlandish Painting. Subsequently, he founded Fred G. Meijer Art History (www.fredgmeijer.com), providing art-historical advice and texts. His main field of interest is still-life painting from the 17th and 18th centuries, but his specialist knowledge concerns many areas of painting and drawing from c.1600-1850, and related subjects. He published numerous articles, (contributions to) catalogues of exhibitions and collections, and wrote the catalogues of still-life collections in Rotterdam (1989) and Oxford (2003) and published A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters […] with A. van der Willigen (2003). In 2016 he was awarded the degree of doctor for his research concerning Jan Davidsz. de Heem on which this book is based.