- NameOsias Beert
- Sexmale
- Nationality/DatesFlemish, born c. 1580, dead 1623 or 1624, dead 1623 or 1624
BiographyOsias beert was one of the most important still life
painters in Antwerp during the 17th century. While
his date of birth is unknown, he was apprenticed to
the Antwerp painter Andries van Baseroo, in 1596
and six years later in 1602 received as a master into
the Guild of St. Luke. In 1606 he married Marguerite
Ykens, whose nephew Frans Ykens entered her husband’s
studio as an apprentice in 1615. He had four
other pupils, Frans van der Borcht, P Doens, Paulus
Pontius and Jan Willemsen. Beert was a pioneer in
developing the table-top still lifes filled with fruit,
berries, oysters, wine and other delights. He also
painted floral bouquets in the style of Jan Brueghel I
and Ambrosius Bosschaert. His style sometimes
resembles that of the German painter Georg Flegel as
well as that of the Flemish painter Jan Fopsen van Es.
It is extremely hard to date any of Beert’s works.
Often his son, Osias Beert II, worked in the same
style. Like many other artists of this time, Beert had a
second profession and worked as a cork merchant.