Joris Van Son (Antwerp, 1623-1667)
"A garland of peaches, plums, grapes, pears, hazelnuts, corn, and other fruits and flowers surrounding a stone cartouche with sculpted angels"
Oil on canvas
cm 112 x 84
Attribution: Dr. Fred Meijer
A significant portion of Van Son's output falls under the category of "garland paintings." Garland paintings are a type of still life invented in early 17th-century Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder and subsequently practiced by leading Flemish still life painters, particularly Daniel Seghers.
Van Son painted garlands with wreaths of flowers and fruits, and occasionally a combination of the two, with the upper part composed of flowers and the lower part of fruits or vice versa. The fruits and flowers in these compositions are grouped together and attached to sculptural frames. His flower garlands reveal the influence of Daniel Seghers, although conceptually his work is closer to that of Jan Davidsz de Heem, who is presumed to have been his master. The light in Van Son's work is softer than that in de Heem's work. Van Son was particularly skilled at rendering the physical qualities of fruit skin, as is evident in the fuzziness of the peaches in his compositions.
