Jacob van Hulsdonck

Jacob van Hulsdonck or Jan van Hulsdonck (1582, Antwerp – 1647, Antwerp), was a Flemish painter who played a role in the early development of the genre of still lifes of fruit, banquets and flowers.

Jacob van Hulsdonck was born in Antwerp in 1582. He moved to Middelburg at a young age and there he likely received at least part of his training. The prime still life painting studio in Middelburg was that of Flemish émigré Ambrosius Bosschaert. Although it is believed van Hulsdonck did not train with Bosschaert he may have been an early influence on his work.

By 1608 van Hulsdonck had returned to Antwerp as is documented by the record of his admission as a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke that year. The following year he married Maria la Hoes and moved into the house that remained his residence for the rest of his life. The couple had seven children.

Jacob van Hulsdonck was the teacher of his son Gillis who later worked as a still life painter in Amsterdam.

Jacob van Hulsdonck was a still life painter of banquet style pieces, fruit bowls and flowers. Roughly 100 paintings are currently attributed to him. The meticulous handling of detail in his work likely explains his relatively low output. More than half of his paintings are signed with his characteristic full signature in capitals while some are signed with a monogram only.

Because he only left one dated work, the Breakfast piece with a fish, ham and cherries of 1614 (Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle) it is difficult to establish a chronology of his works. Panel makers' marks are of little help in dating his work because of his preference for panels prepared with gesso on the reverse, which makes the wood more stable and less susceptible to warping. It is believed that his earliest still lifes are the ones in which the edge of the table is close to the bottom of the picture and the table is depicted from a rather elevated viewpoint. In these early works, the table is partly covered with a white cloth. In his later works he abandoned some of the rigidity of these early works by lowering the viewpoint, leaving some space under the table and including one side of the table in the composition. His palette is also believed to have evolved over the years and his later works have brighter colours and less dark backgrounds. His later still lifes are set out on plain wooden tables. The grain of the wood is typically depicted in great detail. Occasionally these tables are partly covered with a dark (greyish- or greenish-black) cloth.

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