This still life by Floris Claesz. van Dyck displays the prosperity of 17th century Holland by showing a table
covered in expensive damasks with local cheeses, imported fruits and nuts, Chinese porcelain, German
stoneware and silver-based glass. Van Dyck was dean of the painter’s guild in the Dutch Golden Age.
The exhibit consists of 40
paintings by select artists that
reflect subjects from their
grand tours of exotic places
to the ships that took them to
their destinations. There, they
gathered souvenirs and indulged
in the vast array of amazing
things they saw from animals
and plants to precious objects.
Some of these still life works are
of food, flowers and other items
found locally, while others are of
everyday life, or a landscape, but
each tells a story from the artist’s
viewpoint. Travel was appealing
This still life of tulips and other flowers by Flemish painter Osias Beert from the
Grasset Collection is one of his largest works. It appears as though the arrangement
on the left has been created from the flowers in the other baskets.
MAY/JUNE 2019 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 59
GRASSET COLLECTION