Clara Peeters Circle

Circle of CLARA PEETERS ( Antwerp, c., 1588/90-after 1621).
"Still life of fish, oysters, prawns and cat".
Oil on oak panel.
Presents old restorations.
Presents stamp on the back.
Measurements: 33,5 x 54 cm; 54 x 74,5 cm (frame).
In a horizontal format the artist recreates an austere interior where the still life coexists with the presence of a cat that crouches on one of the fish. The painter establishes two levels, although he presents all the elements as a frieze and almost on the same plane based on a clear and frontal vision that allows a better reading of all the elements contained in the scene. As for the aesthetic treatment, it is worth mentioning the tenebrist heritage of the image, the lighting with a focus directed towards the pieces of fish, the dark background and the taste for detail that is evident in the quality of the oysters, the shrimp, or the care in the representation of the scales of the fish. The way of arranging the elements and the aesthetic treatment, especially of the fish, presents certain stylistic similarities with the work of Clara Peerter, as can be appreciated by comparing this work with the painting "Still Life with Fish, Sail, Artichokes, Crabs and Shrimps", currently in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid, or in "Still Life with Fish and Cat" which belongs to the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in New York, in which the same composition with the cat on the fish can be appreciated.
Clara Peeters was a Flemish painter specialized in still life painting, who worked both in the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. Peeters is the most recognized Flemish artist of this period and one of the few women artists working professionally in 17th century Europe, despite the restrictions imposed on women in access to artistic training and guild membership, Peeters specialized in still lifes with food and was one of the artists who shaped the still life genre itself. The details of Peeters' life are unclear. In general, scholars agree that her work points to her being a native of Antwerp. The Antwerp city archives preserve a record of a Clara Peeters, daughter of Jean (Jan) Peeters. A second document indicates a marriage between a Clara Peeters and Henricus Joosen. However, both Clara and, above all, Peeters were common names in Antwerp[7]. A baptism in 1594 would imply that her paintings dated 1607 were made when she was 12 or 13 years old. Some scholars doubt that these early works could have been done by someone so young and have postulated that she was born in the 1580s. Peeters was established in Amsterdam in 1611 and documented in The Hague in 1617. Some have suggested that, as there are no obvious works by Peeters after 1621, he stopped painting after he married, as indeed did, for example, Judith Leyster. Peeters signed thirty-one works as "CLARA PEETERS" or "CLARA P.", and dated many of them, which records her work between 1607 and 1621. Peeters was one of the first artists to specialize in still lifes and flowers, working when this genre was still emerging.