Floris van Dyck

Floris van Dyck, also called Floris van Dijck or Floris Claesz. van Dyck (c.1575 – before 26 April 1651) was a Dutch Golden Age still life painter.

Biography

Van Dyck lived in Haarlem for most of his life, but he was born in Delft. He was a cousin of Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck, whose father, Cornelis, first had a brewery in Delft before moving to the "De Olyphant" brewery in Haarlem. In 1600 he was documented as being in Rome, where he was a good friend of Joseph van Arpino and witnessed him being cured of an ailment with Olio del gran Duco, an oil given to him by the Pope's personal physician, with which he smeared himself all over his body. Thanks to this miracle cure, Arpino could finish an altarpiece in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

He was influenced by Osias Beert and Clara Peeters and is considered the inventor of the banketje (banquet still life genre similar to breakfasts, or ontbijtjes), together with Nicolaes Gillis. Besides Nicolaes Gilles, he influenced the painters Floris van Schooten, Pieter Claesz, and Roelof Koets. He died in Haarlem.