Alexander Adriaenssen

Alexander Adriaenssen (1587–1661) was a Flemish Baroque painter, particularly known for his still-lifes of fish and game pieces. He also painted banquet pieces with food and flower still lifes.

Life Alexander Adriaenssen was born in Antwerp, the son of the famous Antwerp composer and lute player Emmanuel Adriaenssen and Sibilla Crelin. He was baptised on 17 January 1587 in the St. James' Church, Antwerp. His younger brother Vincent became a battle painter. Another younger brother called Niclaes became a portrait painter and would in 1612 emigrate with his widowed mother to Haarlem.

Alexander was registered as the pupil of Artus van Laeck in 1597. In 1610 he became a master of the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp. As he had trained particularly in the art of painting coats of arms on parchment, he was registered as a water colour painter. He soon became skilled in painting with oil and specialized in still lifes. He was able to build his reputation with these works. Rubens was an admirer and bought two of Adriaenssen's works for his collection. Anthony van Dyck also appreciated the artist's output and painted his portrait, which was engraved by Antony van der Does.

Adriaenssen paid his dues of the Guild of St. Luke each year until 1633. He lived in Antwerp's centre on De Wapper, near Rubens. He also painted game pieces and four flower pieces. Flower pieces regularly appear in his banquet style still lifes. Works by him survive with dates from 1623 to 1661, but the peak of his career was approximately 1630–1650. The signature "A. Neck" on one oil painting is probably a badly preserved instance of Adriaenssen's signature.

Alexander Adriaenssen was influenced in his still-life motifs by Frans Snyders and as a result his still lifes often included artichokes, poultry and live cats.

Adriaenssen is known particularly for his renderings of raw fish, a common topic of Dutch still-life painters which he portrayed in more than 60 works, more than any other artist in 17th-century Antwerp. Many of his fish still lifes were relatively small and inexpensive works.

Stylistically, he was influenced by the school of Haarlem. His compositions are characterised by an asymmetrical diagonal layout—a triangle standing on end flanked by ellipses—with objects overlapping over multiple planes for greater depth.