Hieronymus Galle

He was known mainly for his flower and fruit still lifes. He also painted hunting pieces and garland paintings. He is further known for vanitas paintings.^[4] About 15 signed and dated paintings executed between 1643 and 1680 are known.^[9]

He was initially a follower of the leading Antwerp flower painters Daniel Seghers and Jan Brueghel the Elder.^[3][10] While Seghers generally bathed his flowers in full light, Galle more typically relied on an animated play of light and shade in his compositions. In his palette he showed a preference for salmon-pink tonalities.^[9] In comparison to Seghers, Galle's work is more modern and his floral compositions are more dense and more picturesque in their conception.^[7]

His still lifes further show he absorbed Roman still life traditions of the mid-17th century. During his stay in Rome he would have been exposed to this tradition, which itself was influenced by Flemish still life painters such as Abraham Brueghel.^[9] The work of Italian artists such as Paolo Porpora and Michelangelo di Campidoglio may have been an influence on his work too.^[10]

A vanitas painting by his hand is kept in the collection of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kyiv.^[8]

He painted a number of paintings in the genre of garland paintings, a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century.^[11] The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement.^[11] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.^[11][2] Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host).^[2] By the second half of the century secular themes such as portraits and mythological subjects also decorated the central part of the many paintings made in this fashion.^[12] Garland paintings are typically a collaboration between a figure painter and a flower painter.

Galle is known to have collaborated with Cornelis Schut on a garland painting referred to as A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles (Sold at Christie's on 11 May 2005 in Amsterdam lot 29).^[13]

Galle was likely an influence on the French still life painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer who resided in Antwerp for some time.^[14]

• Media related to Hieronymus Galle at Wikimedia Commons