Opulence Distilled

Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Utrecht, 1606 - Antwerp, 1684) is among the very best still-life painters of the seventeenth century. He worked both in Antwerp and the Northern Netherlands, thus bringing together Flemish and Dutch painting. De Heem was a wizard with oil paint who portrayed eye-catching illusions of opulence and beauty in his many still lifes of varying sizes. In the more than five decades in which he painted, he always sought innovation in his choice of subject matter and in the breathtaking rendering of details. His still lifes take us back to the finest the seventeenth century had to offer.

The Snijders House is part of the museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis in Antwerp and the former home of Frans Snijders, the Antwerp painter of still lifes, markets, animal pieces and yachts. The choise for this seventeenth-century patrician residence as an exhibition site to show masterpieces from De Heem's oeuvre is obvious.