Willem Claeszoon Heda Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

Willem Claeszoon Heda uncle was the painter Cornelis Claesz Heda. Heda’s skill was recognized early on in his career by other notable artists in his hometown of Haarlem. Following the support from Samuel Ampzing, Heda became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, as shown by his signing of a new charter to regulate the affairs of the guild in 1631.

Following his formative pieces of the 1620s, Willem Claeszoon Heda reached his artistic maturity in the 1630s with pieces such as his still-life of the ‘1639 group’. His coloration and illustration of light in the pieces, combined with fine brush strokes, bring about a practically mind-boggling level of realism.

Heda’s style kept on advancing with his pieces of the 1640s, he also began to incorporate the crinkled napkin and knocked over vases to his set of objects. This new arrangement presented a challenge to the artist to maintain cohesion and order in a scattered environment. The 1650s saw the introduction of a wider color scheme.

Heda’s last years saw the artist start the move from the late breakfast still-life works of art he helped create, to the display still-life pieces of Willem Kalf in Amsterdam.

As a standout among the most recognized Dutch masters and one of the signature artists of the still life genre, his compositions feature a mini art history of some of the highlights of Dutch seventeenth-century painting. Willem Claeszoon Heda is known for his innovation of the late breakfast genre of Dutch still-life painting.

Art Movement: Dutch Golden Age.
Painters Willem Claeszoon Heda Influenced: Maerten Boelema de Stomme, Gerret Willemsz Heda, Hendrik Heerschop, Arnold van Beresteijn.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.