Willem Claeszoon Heda (c. 1594 - c. 1670), Dutch painter, born at Haarlem, was one of the earliest Dutchmen who devoted himself exclusively to the painting of still life.
He was the contemporary and comrade of Dirk Hals , with whom he had in common pictorial touch and technical execution. But Heda was more careful and finished than Hals, and showed considerable skill and not a little taste in arranging and colouring chased cups and beakers and tankards of precious and inferior metals. Nothing is so appetizing as his luncheon, with rare comestibles set out upon rich plate, oysters--seldom without the cut lemonbread, champagne, olives and pastry. Even the commoner refection is also not without charm, as it comprises a cut ham, bread, walnuts and beer.
One of Heda's early masterpieces, dated 1623, in the Munich Pinakothek is as homely as a later one of 1651 in the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna. A more luxurious repast is a "Luncheon" in the Augsburg Gallery, dated 1644.
Most of Heda's pictures are on the European continent, notably in the galleries of Paris, Parma, Ghent, Darmstadt, Gotha, Munich and Vienna. He was a man of repute in his native city, and filled all the offices of dignity and trust in the gild of Haarlem. He seems to have had considerable influence in forming the younger Frans Hals.
