His Early Life

Willem Claesz Heda (1594-1680) was born on 14 December 1594 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. He devoted his painting talent exclusively to the painting of still life. He is known for his innovation of the ‘breakfast genre of still life painting’. His father, Claes Pietersz, was a Haarlem city architect. Willem’s uncle, Cornelis Claesz Heda was a painter. With no records relating to his early life available. scholars could only speculate that Heda began painting at around 1615.

Heda’s Famous Works

Claesz Heda’s earliest known work was a ‘Vanitas’ which was an example of his skillful texturing of the painting of his famous breakfast pieces. His art gained early recognition by other notable figures in Haarlem such as Samuel Ampzing, a Dutch minister and poet. Heda won local fame and found mention of his name with praise by most noteworthy persons around Haarlem. Following his support from Samuel Ampzing, Heda became an active member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. Heda reached his artistic maturity in the 1630s with pieces such as those of the “1639 group”, which were later sold to Vienna in the 1930s. These pieces contain perfectly draped fabric and assortments of fine glass and metal wares in addition to orderly-presented foodstuffs.

Willem Heda and his contemporaries

Willem was a contemporary and comrade of Dirck Hals and was akin to him in technical execution. Experts also feel that 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 was also associated with the fellow still-life painter from Haarlem, Floris van Dyck. One of the famous Dutch poets, Theodorus Schrevelius, acknowledged the exceptional skill of his genre of painting. Heda and his contemporary still life painter, Floris van Duck were held in high esteem by the community as the best at painting their genre.

His Final Years

Heda’s final years saw the artist begin the transition from the breakfast still-life painting to the display still-life pieces of ‘Willem Kalf’ in Amsterdam. His last known works were painted in 1664 and 1665 and contained the warmer pallette of browns associated Kalf’s pieces. Heda lived until the 1680s and died in Haarlem sometime during the period between 1680 and 1682. Many of Heda’s still-life paintings are on display in major museums all around Europe.