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Willem van Aelst (1627 - in or after 1683)

A Vase of Flowers

A526; oil on canvas; 67 x 55 cm

Signed: Guill.mo van Aelst. 1663

Prov: (?)Sir John Austen; C.H.T. Hawkins

Bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward, 1939; WA1940.2.2

Meijer 2003, no. 1

Van Aelst was one of the most successful and influential still-life painters of the 17th century. His flower paintings, composed with a sinuous asymmetry and lavishly detailed, brought a new decorative elegance into Dutch still-life painting. The vase in this painting was one of the artist's favourite accessories, first appearing in a still life in 1649.

Information derived from the The Ashmolean Museum index.php/complete Illustrated Catalogue of Paintings.