Balthasar van der Ast (1593-94  -  1657),

was a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit, as well as painting a number of remarkable shell still lifes; he is considered to be a pioneer in the genre of shell painting. His still lifes often contain insects and lizards. His father, Hans, was a widower, and when he died in 1609, Balthasar moved in with his older sister, Maria, and his brother-in-law, the prominent Dutch painter Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573–1621), whom Maria married in 1604. Van der Ast was trained by Bosschaert. In turn, the three sons of Ambrosius Bosschaert - Ambrosius, Johannes, and Abraham  were trained by van der Ast upon the death of their father. The displayed painting is a crop from: Still Life with Fruit and Flowers (1620 - 1621).