Pieter de Putter (Middelburg c. 1600-1659 Beverwijk)
A Fisherman and Fisherwoman with fish on a table
Oil on panel | 107 x 78 | signed lower right | ca 1640
A Fisherman and fisherwomen holding a pike with bream, perch and other freshwater fish on a table.
Pieter de Putter belongs to the earliest generation of fish-still life painters. He painted freshwater fish almost exclusively, but, as here, he also produced several works with large scale figures in the characteristic garb of fisherfolk. All other known examples of these figural types depict men holding a pike, standing behind a table with an extensive fish still life. In the present works attention is mostly drawn to the portrait-like studies of the fisherman and the fisherwoman, but the fish themselves, in their typically cool and brownish tones, are entirely in keeping with De Putter's individual fish still lifes.
Exhibition: Centraal Museum Utrecht, "Vis. Stillevens van Hollandse en Vlaamse meesters 1550 - 1700 - Vis Vitalis" (07 February 2004 — 09 may 2004)
