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Harman steenwyck biography channel


Harmen Evertsz....

Harmen van Steenwyck (1612-56)
Leading Exponent of Vanitas Painting

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Biography

Among the leading Dutch Realist artists of the Delft/Leiden school, Harmen Steenwyck became one of the best still life painters of his time, specializing in the genre of vanitas still life painting, during the early years of Dutch Realism (c.1600-80) in Protestant Holland.

Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life by Harmen van Steenwyck (1612–c.1656), about 1640, from The National Gallery, London.

  • Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life by Harmen van Steenwyck (1612–c.1656), about 1640, from The National Gallery, London.
  • Harmen Steenwyck's 'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' was painting in about 1640.
  • Harmen Evertsz.
  • Born in Delft, Harmen Steenwijck trained under his uncle David Bailly in Leiden for about five years from 1628.
  • All are dominated by the skull, the symbol of death.

    • In the field of still life pictures he ranks alongside his uncle David Bailly (1584-1657), as well as other exceptional painters like Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-83), Pieter Claesz (1597-1660), Willem Kalf (1622-93) and Willem Claesz Heda (1594-1681).

    He is best known for his masterpiece "An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life" (1640, National Gallery, London). Other exceptional paintings by Harmen Steenwyck include: "Still Life with Skull, Books, Flute and Whistle" (1646, Kunstmuseum Basel); "Still Life with Earthe