Balthasar Van Der Ast Biography | Oil Paintings.

Balthasar van der Ast father, Hans, was a widower, and when he died in 1609, Balthasar van der Ast moved in with his older sister, Maria, who married five years earlier to the Dutch artist Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Van der Ast was trained by his brother-in-law the still-life painter Bosschaert as a still-life painter, and his early works clearly show his influence.

When Ambrosius Bosschaert died in 1621, his three sons, Ambrosius the Younger, Johannes, and Abraham Bosschaert were trained by van der Ast as still-life painters, this group of painters is sometimes alluded to as the “Bosschaert dynasty”.

When the Bosschaert family moved in 1615 to Bergen op Zoom and in 1619 to Utrecht, Balthasar van der Ast moved with them and van der Ast entered the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke. There he met Roelandt Savery who had entered the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke at about the same time. Savery had considerable influence on van der Ast and in turn, van der Ast influenced his students in the years to come, with his new interest in tonality. Besides the Bosschaerts, his pupils were Anthony Claesz and Johannes Baers, Jan Davidsz de Heem. He also had an influence on Willem and Evert van Aelst, and Bartholomeus Assteyn.

Balthasar van der Ast remained in Utrecht until 1632 when he moved to Delft and joined the Delft Guild of St. Luke in 1633. In 1633 he married Margrieta Jans van Buijeren and remained in Oude Delft until his death in 1657. Recently, his painting The Zomerschoon Tulip was sold at auction for US$1,000,000.

Art Movement: Dutch Golden Age.
Artists Influencing Balthasar van der Ast: Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.
Painters Balthasar van der Ast Influenced: Jan Davidsz de Heem, Willem and Evert van Aelst, Bartholomeus Assteyn.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.