Stillevens door Zeeuwse meesters uit de Gouden Eeuw

At the stadhuismuseum of Zierikzee, you will find a temporary exhibition featuring a collection of Zeeland masters from the Golden Age. The paintings focus on objects at the center of the composition: still lifes. While many symbols are present in one painting, they may be less important or even absent in others. Each still life has its own theme and is part of many Zeeland collections. In the former council chamber of the city museum, you will find a large number of still lifes collected by Zeeland masters or masters who worked in Zeeland for a time.

Food on a table is a popular depiction, with fish, crabs, and shrimp from the waters of Zeeland regularly featured prominently, including works by Cornelis Stangerus and Franchoys Ryckhals, who is especially known for his farmer interiors. However, pure fish still lifes are rare. Laurens Craen was a student of the famous still life painter Jan Davidsz. de Heem in Antwerp for a time, but mainly worked in Middelburg.

Kitchen pieces were painted less often in Zeeland than in Holland. The example shown here is by Cornelis Eversdijck from Goes. Hunting still lifes seem to have been quite popular in Zeeland, particularly depictions of small game. Hunting was reserved for a select group, and a hunting still life on the wall could give the impression that the owner belonged to this group. The work shown by Philips Angel was painted in his birthplace of Middelburg. Cornelis Lelienbergh from The Hague settled in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in 1666, where the shown work was probably created.

Ambrosius Bosschaert I is one of the pioneers of Northern Dutch flower still life painting in Middelburg and is considered one of the most important masters in this field. He left Zeeland in 1614. Christoffel van den Berghe, from whom a subtle study is shown, lived and worked in Middelburg his entire life.

Vanitas still lifes refer to the transience of life. The objects depicted symbolize the inevitable passage of time and the vanity of earthly existence. Hendrick Andriessen from Antwerp was probably active in Zeeland for only a short time. Adriaen Verdoel II is from Vlissingen and works in Middelburg. Adriaen Coorte was probably born in IJzendijke and later worked in Vlissingen.