Aelst, Willem van 1625/26 Delft - 1683 Amsterdam Hunting still life. Signed and dated centre on the base: Giul (...) Aelst f. 1674 (?). Oil on canvas. Relined. 74 x 57,5cm. Willem van Aelst was an important painter of flower-, fruit- and hunting still lives. He was a student of his uncle Evert van Aelsts. Since 1643 he was listed in the Delft guild of St. Luke. From 1645-49 he lived in France afterwhich he moved to Italy in 1656. Here he worked for a.o. the grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II de Medici. In Italy he worked together closely with Otto Marseus van Schrieck, who presumably often painted insects on his paintings. From 1657 he resided in Amsterdam where he presumably worked up to his death. A.o. Rachel Ruysch counts to his students. Van Aelst is especially renowned for his depictions of cloth, metals and feathers. His backgrounds are initially grey, later dark differentiating him from Jan Davidsz. Literature: Listed and depicted in: Bernt, Walther: Die Niederländischen Maler des 17. Jahrhunderts, Band 1, Munich 1948/60, Fig. No. 4.