Alexander Adriaenssen (1587 – 1661)

Alexander Adriaenssen (1587 – 1661) Flemish Baroque Still-Life Painter

Alexander Adriaenssen was born in Antwerp as the son of Emmanuel Adriaenssen and Sibilla Crelin; he was the older brother of the painter Vincent Adriaenssen. He is considered to be the same person as “A. Neck”. In 1597 he was registered as the pupil of Artus van Laeck. In 1610 he became master of the Guild of St. Luke. He paid his dues each year until 1633.

According to Houbraken, who devoted only one line of text to him, he Schilderde Stilleven, Fruit, Visschen &c, meaning literally that he painted still life, fruit, fish, etc. He was influenced in his still-life motifs by Frans Snyders, including for instance “artichokes, poultry, and live cats”. He also produced pronkstillevens (ostentatious still lifes) with expensive glasses and dishware. The sub-genre of pronkstillevens was developed in Antwerp during the 1640s. However, he 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. He uses a “sober” palette, “tending to monochrome”; he has also been described as important for the “purity of his colour”