Gillis van Hulsdonck

[1] His father was a prominent painter who played a role in the early development of the genre of still lifes of fruit, banquets and flowers and operated a successful workshop in Antwerp.

It is recorded that after his father died in early 1647, on 12 February of that year two guardians were appointed over the then already 21-year old Gillis.

[1] On 27 March 1676 he and his wife (43 years old) attest that they know a certain Jan Pedro de Herde and that they had lived 'in Holland'.

However, in comparison to Kalf's paintings van Hulsdonck's brush stroke is soft and this gives all depicted objects an almost velvety surface.

The theme of a lobster on a pewter plate, for example, appears in several paintings signed by or attributed to Luttichuys.