BEERT, Osias the Younger

Flemish painter, son of Osias Beert the Elder. He was admitted at the Guild of St Luke of Antwerp in 1645. He followed in the steps of his father. His still-lifes present recurring fresh and cooked food as well as table ware on a tilted table-top. The frontal, serialised featuring of the different items enables painter and viewer alike to identify details all the better as each coloured element stands out against a dark, neutral background.

Although somewhat less perfect than his father, Osias Beert the Younger was a very skilful artist, ranking high among the mid-17th-century still-life painters. He belonged, together with Jacob van Es and Frans Ykens, to the second generation of the so-called masters of the archaic still-lifes.