Willem Claesz. Heda

Willem Claeszoon Heda (December 14, 1593/1594 – c. 1680/1682) was a Dutch Golden Age artist from the city of Haarlem devoted exclusively to the painting of still life.

His earliest known work was a Vanitas[3] which fit the monochromatic and skillful texturing of his later pieces, but portrayed a subject matter distinct from the depictions of more sumptuous objects in his later years.

Heda won enough local fame in his own day for Ampzing to praise him in the same breath with Salomon de Bray and Pieter Claesz in his 1628 Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland.

"[I] ha[ve] to praise Heda with the banquet pieces of Solomon de bray and Pieter Claesz, their skill deserves to be mentioned in his poem.

Heda's style continued to progress with his pieces of the 1640s developing a great simplicity founded upon a "firm construction built up on broad lines.

His last known works were painted in 1664 (Private collection, The Hague) and 1665 (Museum del Monte, Brussels), and contained the warmer pallette of browns associated with Kalf's pieces.

But Heda was more careful and finished than Hals, showing considerable skill and taste in the arrangement and colouring of his chased cups, beakers and tankards of both precious and inferior metals.

Heda and his contemporary and fellow still life painter, Floris van Dyck, were "held in high esteem by the community as the best at painting their genre.

Although Descamps' writings[12][13] included many inaccuracies, he described the Dutch masters, the van Eyck brothers among others, with personal observations that set him apart from many who ignored this genre.

Following Descamps, Antoine-Nicolas Dezallier d'Argenville, a French writer and art connoisseur, cemented the shift in attitudes about the Dutch low genres.

[15] After seeing an example of his work at the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam, Thoré praised Heda's ability to make "petite nature into a splendid celebration of life.

His pupils include Maerten Boelema de Stomme, Gerret Willemsz Heda, Hendrik Heerschop, and Arnold van Beresteijn.