Dutch painter of Flemish origin

Ypres (or Leiden) circa 1615/1620 – 1660 Leiden

 

Painter of opulent (so-called “Pronk”) still lifes.

 

De Ring was probably born in the home-town of his parents, Ypres in Flanders. Sadly the whole town, including its archives, was destroyed by multiple German bombing at the start of World War I. As his parents moved from Ypres to Leiden, scholars also propose Leiden as his birthplace, although there are no documents mentioning his birth in the Leiden archives.

 

De Ring is said to have started his professional life as a mason.

According to Arnold Houbraken (1660 – 1719), who published in 1718 his famous “De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen”, a biography of all important Dutch painters, an employer 

who had seen de Ring’s paintings decided to pay for his training as a painter with Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Utrecht 1603 – 1683/84 Antwerp), one of the most, if not the most important 17th century “Dutch” still life painter. Jan was indeed born and trained in Holland, but he bloomed in Flanders, in Antwerp. In the early 1630s he moved with his wife and son (Cornelis) from Leiden to Antwerp, where he spent his most productive years until the end of the 1650s. Jan must then have lived the major part of the 1660s in Utrecht until the French invasion of Holland in 1672, when he fled, as so many of his colleagues, back to Antwerp. He remained here until his death in 1683 or 1684.  

 

There is, again, no documented proof of de Ring having trained in Antwerp under de Heem, if so it should have been in 1635/36. But de Heem’s influence is palpable, especially in de Ring’s still lifes dating from around 1650. In fact his early works fell under the influence of Haarlem-based Willem Heda, while his lighting is typical of Gerrit Dou, who lived in Leiden.

 

De Ring is documented in Leiden from circa 1644 until his death in 1660.

He was an important painter in that town: he was a co-founder of the local Painter’s Guild with Gabriel Metsu and with Jan Steen in 1648. 

 

De Ring hired a house in an expensive part of Leiden, next to its famous Botanical Garden. And again there are very few official documents about him: he never bought a house and never got married. There is even no trace of a testament.

De Ring often signed his paintings with a painted golden ring holding a small stone, sometimes with the Latinised form of his name “P.Ab.Annulo”. This ring is missing in our still life.

 

 

According to Fred Meijer our still life must have been painted by a follower of de Ring during the second half of the 17th century. He thinks it might have been a copy after a now lost original, as many elements within our composition can be found back in other works by de Ring. Fred Meijer further states that our version lacks the brilliance and transparency of de Ring’s handling.

 

The blue casket is a decorative prop that often occurs in compositions by Jan Davidsz. de Heem. The typical German Roemer glass is filled with white wine. It is easily recognizable by its decoration of the stem with prunts to ensure a safe grip. The Dutch imported wine from the Brodeaux region in France and from nearby Germany. In those days German white wine from the valleys of the Rhine and Moselle was so sweet that it was customary in Holland to season it with lemon juice to temper that excessive sweetness. This explains the presence of a partly peeled lemon in the foreground.

 

Finally the funny rabbit pie at the centre of our composition testifies of the sense for humour of the Ring. 

 

 

Because this masterful Pronk still life is just as de Ring’s works an ode to wealth and luxury. Its vibrant colours, textures and light are very well executed.