Artwork
Still life with fish
Still life with fish is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Abraham van Beijeren. It dates from 1660 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
A wooden bucket and a brown earthenware jug stand on the table behind the basket, and the still life is rendered at life size.
The painting depicts a coarse wooden table bearing a basket of fish, including cod and a cut of salmon, accompanied by flatfish, mussels, and a knife arranged in the foreground. A wooden bucket and a brown earthenware jug stand on the table behind the basket, and the still life is rendered at life size. This composition is characteristic of Abraham van Beijeren's fish still lifes, which are built up in a consistent manner: a table topped with a basket of fish alongside utilitarian vessels and implements.
As a genre subject, the arrangement reflects the conventions of seventeenth-century Dutch still life, in which freshly caught seafood and humble household objects were assembled to showcase painterly skill in rendering varied textures, the silvery sheen of fish scales, the roughness of woven basketry, and the matte surfaces of wood and earthenware. The inclusion of a knife and opened shellfish hints at imminent preparation and consumption, a common motif in market and kitchen still lifes of the period, while the everyday vessels ground the scene in domestic realism rather than allegory.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, with a composition built around a coarse wooden table displaying a wicker basket of fish including cod and salmon fillets, flatfish, mussels, and a knife in the foreground, alongside a wooden pail and an earthenware jug in the background.
Handling follows the artist’s characteristic approach to still-life painting, arranging elements at life size with a restrained palette and careful attention to texture, from the sheen of fish scales to the matte surfaces of the basket and jug. The monogram ‘·AVB f·’ is inscribed in the lower right, confirming the attribution to Abraham van Beijeren.
History & Provenance
The painting Still life with fish by Abraham van Beijeren was created in 1660. The work is signed in the lower right corner with the monogram '·AVB f·', indicating the artist's authorship. Originally part of the collection of Gerrit van der Pot, Lord of Groeneveld in Rotterdam, the painting remained in private hands until his estate was auctioned.
On June 6, 1808, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam purchased the piece at the posthumous sale of Van der Pot's collection in Rotterdam. The museum has held the work in its permanent collection since that acquisition, though it was previously loaned to the Museum Beeckestijn in Velsen-Zuid.
The painting is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It entered the museum's holdings on June 6, 1808, when it was purchased at the estate auction of the Rotterdam collector Gerrit van der Pot, Lord of Groeneveld. At one point, the work was loaned to the Museum Beeckestijn in Velsen-Zuid.
The piece is monogrammed '·AVB f·' in the lower right corner. While specific inventory numbers are not detailed in the available records, its provenance is firmly established through the 1808 acquisition from van der Pot.
Overview
Still life with fish is a 1660 oil painting by Abraham van Beijeren, a Dutch Baroque artist known for his still lifes and marine scenes.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Abraham Hendriksz van Beijeren or Abraham van Beyeren (c. 1620, The Hague – March 1690, Overschie (Rotterdam)) was a Dutch Baroque painter of still lifes. Little recognized in his day and initially active as a marine…
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