Pieter de Ring
Still Life with a Lemon, Rummer, Grapes, Cherries and Shellfish
Oil on panel. 40 x 34.5 cm.
Signed with the ring to the left of the table..
Little is known about the life of the Leiden painter Pieter de Ring. He seems to have been taught by Jan Davidsz de Heem and to have opened his own studio shortly after. We have no record of a house purchase, the birth of a child, a marriage or a will, so the details of his personal life remain a mystery. He has, however, left us with an impressive oeuvre of still lifes with fruit, shellfish and vessels of silver, glass and porcelain. He occasionally monogrammed or signed his works, but more often included a ring in his arrangements in place of a signature, such as in the present work. The tables in his works are often decked with a blue tablecloth, the colour of which dictates the palette of his compositions and creating a vivid contrast with the rich colours of the other motifs in his works, such yellow lemons, red cherries, lobsters or cut figs.