Jacob Foppens van Es

The inscription on a portrait of Foppens van Es engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar after a design by Joannes Meyssens states that he was born in Antwerp.

[3] At the time of his registration as a master in Antwerp, he was already married to Joanna Claessens with whom he had a son called Nicolaas.

[2] Further proof of his success is that his portrait made by Joannes Meyssens and engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar was included in the collection of artist portraits entitled Images de Divers Hommes Despirit Sublime qui par leur art et science debvrovent vivre eternellement et des quels la louange et renomée facit estonner le monde ('Images of Various Men of Sublime Spirit who by their art and science should live forever and whose praise and renown astound the world'), published in Antwerp in 1649, with the following text: (Translation: Jacobus van Es, painter who excels in fruit, fish, birds and flowers which he renders very well as nature he lives in Antwerp where he was born) He was active in Antwerp for 50 years.

They typically depict fruit, fish, lobster, oysters, mussels, cheese, ham, bread, olives, lemons and oranges together with objects such as glassware, pitchers and silver.

His still lifes typically depict a random accumulation of unrelated objects on a sharply inclined table with the principal concern being the realisation of rich colour.

[2] The extreme simplicity of the arrangement, the few, perfectly harmonized shades and the spontaneous but firm brushstroke make the panel exceptional in Flemish still life painting as a whole.

Garland paintings are a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen at the request of the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century.

[9] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.