Pieter Claesz revolutionized the Dutch still life with his monochrome “banketjes”. In reduced colors and clear compositions, masterful craftsmanship and religious symbolism combine to create a quiet insistence.
Quiet devotion in grey and ochre
Held in muted shades of grey and ochre, there are only a few foodstuffs which, together with drinking glasses that are also dark but highlighted by subtle light reflections, form a simple but striking ensemble. This seemingly sparse composition exemplifies the type of monochrome banketje (Dutch for “small monochrome meal”), which denotes Pieter Claesz's special position in the development of Dutch still life. The extremely economical use of a few colors of low luminosity is a far cry from those lavish, multi-layered splendid still lifes depicted in exuberant splendor of color, which at the same time contain a warning against an immoderate lifestyle.
The limited, even sparse selection of objects, together with their perfect rendering, testifies to more than just technical brilliance. Rather, it expresses a religious reference: The bread and wine allude to the Last Supper, which Christ held with his disciples as a prelude to the Passion story; the fish stands for the strict food commandments during Lent. In the strictly Protestant milieu of the Netherlands, which saw itself as having a biblical foundation, indeed as the chosen people of God, such messages were easily understood.
Like many of his Flemish compatriots, the painter from Berchem near Antwerp moved to the Protestant north of the Netherlands. In 1621, he arrived in Haarlem, where another Antwerp native, Frans Hals, was probably his most prominent professional colleague.
Text: Ulrich Becker