Pieter Claesz was a Dutch still life painter, born in Westphalia. He moved to Haarlem, married there in 1617 and remained in the town for the rest of his life. His most characteristic genre is that of the breakfast piece, although he also painted banquet pieces and a few vanitas still lifes. With his contemporary, the Haarlem painter Willem Claesz. Heda, he was the most important exponent of the monochrome' breakfast piece. Not strictly monochromatic, these works are composed in subtle harmonies of grey, brown and green, often with a sharp yellow accent provided by a peeled lemon. Claesz's breakfast pieces are generally distinguishable from Heda's by the types of objects he depicts. Claesz's monochrome period, in fact, spans only the period ofthe 1630s; after 1640 his style became grander and more decorative. Although he and Heda could be said to have invested still life with an increased dignity and refinement, Claesz's own son, Nicolaes Berchem, established himself instead as a landscape painter.

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