(Delft 1627 – after 1686 Amsterdam)
Still life of flowers,
signed at lower right: Guill(er) mo van Aelst,
oil on canvas, 63.5 x 52.7 cm, framed

Willem van Aelst was one of the most versatile Dutch still life painters of the 17th century. He began his career as a pupil of his uncle, Evert van Aelst. Around 1645 he travelled to France and then went to Italy in 1649, where he settled in Florence. His elegantly composed still lifes were favoured by the ruling family. Numerous works dating from this period and once preserved in the archducal collections are now in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. In 1656, Willem van Aelst moved to Amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his life and was again extremely successful as a painter of still lifes. Among his students, many of whom were to become important artists, were Maria van Oosterwijck, Rachel Ruysch, Nicolas Lachtropius, Elias van den Broeck, and Simon Verelst.

The present painting was probably made in collaboration with Nicolaes Lachtropius. It seems to date from after 1659, as from this very year on the artist replaced his previous initial W by ‘Guill. mo’, the Italian translation of his name. The precise and naturalistically rendered details and the balanced composition, bathed in a silvery light, make this work an important work by Willem van Aelst.