Adriaen van Utrecht was a Flemish painter known mainly for his sumptuous banquet still lifes, game and fruit still lifes, fruit garlands, market and kitchen scenes and depictions of live poultry in farmyards. His paintings, especially the hunting and game pieces, show the influence of Frans Snyders. The two artists are considered the main inventors of the genre of the pronkstillevens, i.e. still lifes that emphasized abundance by depicting a diversity of objects, fruits, flowers and dead game, often together with living people and animals. Van Utrecht also painted a number of flower still lifes. He was a regular collaborator with leading Antwerp painters who had been pupils or assistants of Peter Paul Rubens, such as Jacob Jordaens, David Teniers the Younger, Erasmus Quellinus II, Gerard Seghers, Theodoor Rombouts, Abraham van Diepenbeeck and Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert.
Adriaen van Utrecht was born in Antwerp as the son of Abel van Utrecht en Anne Huybrecht. In 1614 he became a pupil of Herman de Neyt, a painter and art dealer who owned an extensive art collection. After completing his apprenticeship with de Neyt, he travelled in France, Germany and Italy, where he worked for the local courts. He returned to Antwerp in 1625 following his father’s death in the preceding year and he became a free master of the local Guild of Saint Luke.
At the wedding of his sister Catharina and the painter Simon de Vos in 1628, he met Constancia van Nieulandt (or 'van Nieuwlandt'), the 17-year-old daughter of the painter and poet Willem van Nieulandt II. The following year van Utrecht married Constancia. The couple had 13 children. Constantia became a painter and poet in her own right. She is believed to have shared the work in her husband’s studio and may have painted partial or entire copies and variations of her husband’s work. A still life with fruit fully signed by Constancia van Utrecht and dated 1647 is entirely in the manner of her husband.
Van Utrecht became a successful artist who received international commissions from the Emperor of Germany, king Philip IV of Spain and the Prince of Orange. He could afford to live in spacious dwellings on the Meir in Antwerp, the most prestigious location in the city. His fortune seems to have declined in the late 1640s, possibly due to ill health and by the time he died in Antwerp in 1652 he had lost most of his wealth.
Between 1626 and 1646 he trained at least seven known pupils, including Philip Gyselaer (1634/35), and Cornelis van Engelen.
Van Utrecht was mainly a still life painter. The range of still life subjects that he tackled was wide and included scenes of fish, meat and vegetable stalls, kitchen scenes often including figures or living animals adding a narrative element, displays of game in larders or as hunting trophies, still lifes of fish, fruit and vegetables. More recently, on the basis of a signed and dated Vase of Flowers of 1642, a few still life paintings with bouquets of flowers have been attributed to van Utrecht.
Van Utrecht also painted barnyard scenes with living animals, typically including poultry such as chickens, turkeys, ducks and peacocks.
His early work was influenced by Frans Snyders. Van Utrecht did not favor bright colours the way Snyders did but rather preferred warm earthen tones, especially grey-green, and strong chiaroscuro effects. The latter was likely derived from his knowledge of Italian painting and in particular the works of followers of Caravaggio.
Adriaen van Utrecht created market and kitchen scenes which incorporated large still lifes of game, fish, vegetables and fruit. He thus stood in the tradition of this genre as pioneered in the 16th century by artists in Antwerp such as Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer and as it had been further developed by Frans Snyders in the early 17th century.
For some of his market and kitchen scenes Adriaen van Utrecht took direct inspiration from compositions by Snyders such as in the Fishmonger's Stall (Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent) in which he relied on motifs and compositional elements present in Snyders' Fish market (Kunsthistorisches Museum). As in Snyders' composition, van Utrecht's Fishmonger Stall relies on the human figures and hanging fish to create the vertical component in contrast to the horizontal element of the table. The diagonals are created through the disposition of the fish but van Utrecht is less interested in dynamic movement than Snyders and therefore his diagonal lines are more muted. The figures in van Utrecht's composition were painted by another painter, possibly Gerard Seghers. Whereas the market scenes represented in the 16th century a reflection of a social reality of increased wealth and material abundance, van Utrecht’s market scenes are more concerned with the aesthetic effect of the work. Nevertheless, his Fishmonger’s Stall seems to convey a moralistic tale. The garish attire of the woman in the picture seems to imply she was likely a prostitute. The hanging fish and the forms of some fish hint at an erotic undertone. While the woman is negotiating with the fishmonger she is the victim of a robbery by a young boy who is cutting her purse while staring directly out of the picture towards the viewer.

More...