Juan van der Hamen y León (1596 – 1631)

• Was a Spanish painter, a master of still life paintings, also called bodegones.
• Prolific and versatile, he painted allegories, landscapes, and large-scale works for churches and convents.
• Today he is remembered mostly for his still lifes, a genre he popularized in 1620s Madrid.
• Juan van der Hamen painted religious history paintings; allegories, landscapes, low-life subjects, portraits and still lifes but the last two categories brought him the greatest fame.
• He served at the courts of Philip III and Philip IV and established the popularity of the new genre of still life in Madrid in the 1620s.
• Van der Hamen painted all his works during the first decade of the reign of Philip IV.
• It is known that he painted more still lifes in 1622 than in any other period of his life.
• Among Van der Hamen portraits, there is one of a dwarf, painted around 1623 in a powerful naturalistic style.
• This painting (Madrid, Museo del Prado) anticipated the later made by Velázquez.
• In 1626, van der Hamen painted cardinal Francesco Barberini, after a previous portrait by Velázquez had failed to please the sitter.
• Well satisfied with his work Cardinal Barberini acquired three further works from him.
• Van der Hamen is well known as a gifted still life painter of the Spanish Golden Age.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Juan van der Hamen y León, An offering to Flora 1627.
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