Maria Tassaert

Still Life with a Garland of Fruit

Antwerp, probably 1660s

Oil on canvas

 63.5 x 53.4cm

Signed, lower left: ‘Maria Tassaert ft [fecit]

A celebration of Nature’s bounty and the artist’s technical skills, this garland of fruit includes cherries, white peaches, cobnuts, white and black grapes, nectarines, raspberries, blackberries, a cut plum and gooseberries; also ivy and fruit-tree leaves. It frames a stone alcove and a wine glass with a studded stem
known as a roemer; a studio window is reflected in the glass. Tassaert came from an extended family of artists, but little is known about her own life. She presumably trained under her father, Peeter (working 1630-92), although this, her only known signed work, is part of a wider Flemish and Dutch tradition of such subjects.

Purchased 2022 (No. 2022.1)