Willem Claesz. Heda

Private Collection, Lisbon;
With Rafael Valls, London, 2008;
From whom acquired by the present owner.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Willem Claesz. Heda. Still Life, with Silver, Glass, Pewter and a Pie. Signed HEDA 1638. This painting is on an oak panel, with two joints and narrow additional strips on all edges, which has been cradled apparently quite recently. The restoration is also recent. The upper joint may have been reglued with retouching visible along its full length under ultra violet light. The lower joint only has a fine line of retouching towards the right end. There have been a few short cracks in the past: one (c6cm) running in from near the top of the left edge, a rather longer (c10cm) at lower left just runninginto the top of the tall glass, another below about the same length runs just up the shorter glass, with one longer crack (c 14cm) running in from the upper right edge. These are visible under UV, as are scattered small retouchings quite frequently across the background, with slightly wider touches around the side of the gilded cup and above the tall glass. A narrow vertical scratch can be seen in the centre with another two shorter narrow scrawls just above. There are minor retouchings at the edges. The fragile glazing across such backgrounds have always been vulnerable, and the brighter light on the left would probably originally have deepened into richer shading further right across the background. The still life itself is in fine intact condition overall, with well preserved detail even in the deeper browns, for instance around the nuts on the table by the lemon and in the dark cloth lower down. There are only small touches in the white drapery which has retained its lovely modelling. The glasses have been rather more delicate, but the silver, gilt and pewter are very beautifully preserved throughout. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
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Heda's monochrome banketje still lifes are among the greatest achievements of the Dutch Golden Age. He first began to paint them in the early 1630s, and their constituent parts are remarkably consistent: simple groups of objects, typically glass and silverware as here, accompanied by lemons and other food, all placed in close relationship to one another upon a simply draped table. Towards the end of the decade, however, the time at which this picture was painted, Heda's compositions began to become more complex. This process can be seen by a comparison between this panel of 1638 and two earlier works, a Still life with roemer, tazza, lemon and pie of 1631 sold in these Rooms 11 December 2003, lot 61, and another Still life with roemer, overturned tazza and pie painted the following year in 1632.¹ The motifs of the overturned silver tazza, resting alongside a roemer half-filled with wine, and the plates with partly eaten pie and peeled lemons are common to all three works and indeed occur throughout the decade. All three works share a similar composition, with the rounded plates arranged in a circle, offset by the strong vertical accent established by the roemer. This is reinforced here by the addition of another flute, a façon de Venise wine glass, a beer glass and a very fine gilt cup and cover, to create a rather more sumptuous and luxurious effect. The elaborate gilt cup and cover or pronkbeker was an element used quite sparingly by Heda, but similar types appear as early as 1632 in a Still life with oysters recorded by Vroom in a private collection, and again in the famous Banketje of 1635 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.²

Despite this increasing complexity of design, Heda's primary interest remained in the effects of reflected and refracted light, with texture and surface rendered and explored within a simple and muted palette. His control and observation of detail remain undiminished. The reflection of the windows in the glass of the roemer are carefully and accurately transcribed, and the glints of light reflected by the surface of the underside of the tazza and splendidly ornate gilt cup beautifully conveyed. The modest slice cut from the pie may subtly allude to moderation in the midst of such luxury.

1. Sold London, Christie's, 6 July 2010, lot 24.

2. N.R.A. Vroom, A Modest message as intimated by the painters of the 'Monochrome Banktje', Schiedam 1980, vol. I, pp. 57, 61, colour plates 71 and 76, vol. II, pp. 67, 70, nos. 335 and 351a.