The Dutch painter Peter Klass managed to achieve stunning atmosphere and amazing simplicity in his paintings. Thanks to him, the genre of "breakfasts" and "vanitas" came to painting. The artist is called one of the most important still life masters of the Golden Age of Holland.
Often the name of a famous painter sounds like Peter Klass from Harlem. In his works, one can feel enthusiasm for the beauty of the material world. The master studied nature so thoroughly in an effort to understand its essence that he achieved stunning realism of the image.
The beginning of creativity
Little is known about the life of the master himself. There are no portraits of him either. The biography of the future painter began in 1596 or 1597 in the Belgian Birchem. There is no information about the early years.
Peter's earliest works are reminiscent of the style of the Antwerp still life masters. However, even then, Klas's desktop compositions were characterized by the introduction of variety in the form of accessories for smoking, the addition of drinks and food, and musical instruments.
The artist painted out all tangible details with amazing care, trying to enhance the illusion of reality by arranging objects in such a way as to achieve their visual distance in space.
According to some reports, Floris van Dyck was his teacher. From the early works of the artist, his talent is noticeable. All the objects for the paintings were chosen by him with great taste. Many "heroes" of the painter's still lifes symbolize the frailty of the earthly life of people. In 1620, Peter became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke.
From 1621 Claes worked and lived in the Dutch Haarlem. Arranged by the artist and personal life. He married, the family had a child in 1621, the son of Nicholas Peters Birham. He later became a renowned landscape painter. The teacher of the future painter was his father. In a marriage with a second wife, two daughters appeared.
Features of paintings
The painter founded new varieties of the genre, "breakfasts" and "vanitas". The paintings were distinguished from the pre-existing ones by a special selection of objects and the originality of interpretation. "Breakfasts" are interesting not because of the luxury or the splendor and abundance of food.
The popularity of the canvases was provided by quite ordinary details. The items were placed on a table covered with a snow-white tablecloth. Glass became the most important addition to them. The glare of light playing on its surface gave the paintings a tangible reality.
The artist carefully thought out the location of every detail of the work. On his canvas "Pipes and Brazier", the composition is distinguished by laconicism and simplicity. The master shows the audience several objects, but he does it masterly.
The muted color, sustained in gray tones, also attracts. The finest light-shade and light transitions give sparkle and shine to jewelry even to the coals of the brazier.
Usually the painter built the composition on oval-shaped objects. The contours of the vessels were distinguished by the intersection of roundness, and the smoothness of the rhythm provided the image with harmony. This is what attracts in the painting "Breakfast". The center of the canvas is shifted to the side, towards the glass, with highlights playing on the thin glass of the vessel.
Flourishing
Klas masterfully accurately distributed lines and volumes. Details of the same tonality are enlivened by sparkling light. And the objects themselves are combined into a single whole with a skillful hand, as in the canvas "Still life with drinking vessels".
The amazing skill of the colorist is fully revealed in the painting "Breakfast with Ham". The audience's eye is attracted by the golden crust of a roll on a metal plate, and the pink hue of an appetizing ham, as if proudly lying on a platter in the center of the table. Reflections of light, sparkling on the transparent walls of the glass, add liveliness to the canvas. The sparkling tin plates provide the same effect.
The master's works over time became more and more refined in terms of painting. They are also characterized by great freedom in the compositional sense. Of particular interest to connoisseurs is the painting "An overturned jug and other objects on a tablecloth." An empty jug forms the basis of her diagonally lined composition.
From other canvases Klas differs markedly written in 1653 "Breakfast with fish". The canvas is characterized by a vertical, elongated format. It provides the impression of a space extending upward, focusing the viewer's attention on a high glass fougere located in the center. In this work, the painter once again confirmed his title of a true master of tonal painting.
With the help of a successful grouping of objects, the master demonstrated the liveliness of the sparkling of metal dishes and glass. Particularly attractive is the central red accent: the wine poured into a narrow glass.
Results of activities
Most of the painter's career is devoted to still life in muted colors with a limited number of objects. However, the master also demonstrated here a unique ability to introduce variety with the help of the subtlest nuances of composition, lighting effects, textures and reflections.
The morning meal became the artist's favorite subject. His "breakfasts" are usually served on the corner of the table. With the simplest means, the standard routine was transformed into a radiant beauty. In the Still Life with a Burning Candle, written in 1627, monochrome related tones, characteristic of the later work of the master, dominate.
Several canvases have been made in the “vanitas” genre. Allegorically, the paintings are distinguished by vivid symbolism. On such canvases, there are both symbols of impermanence and the symbolism of the frailty of life. A striking example is the painting Still Life with a Skull and a Goose Feather.
The palette turned into almost monochrome by 1630-1640. The color scheme of the paintings of this period is distinguished by a great mutedness. However, after the picture, the composition and color are again striking with drama.
The master did not stop working until the last days. The artist left this life in 1661, on January 1. Klas's unique gift of combining the same sets in a variety of original and innovative solutions has had a huge impact on many painters.
He was the first to appreciate the role of air, light and the unity of tone in still life as the most important means for conveying the integrity of the objective world with the environment.
The master's canvases are in the collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum, they are kept in the Hermitage and the Prado Museum in Madrid.
