Grapes, peaches, plums, blackberries, rosehips, a melon, an ear of barley, a vine tendril, chestnuts, walnuts and hazelnuts with a fly, caterpillar and beetle on a stone ledge

Pieter Gallis was born in the Dutch harbour town of Enkhuizen. He lived in north Holland throughout his life; from 1679, he is said to have owned a small pawnshop in Purmerend, before moving to Hoorn in 1683, where he would remain until his passing in 1697 (see S. Segal and K. Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces, translated by J. Deitch, Leiden, 2020, I, pp. 423-4). Praised by Arnold Houbraken, Gallis appears to have been an amateur but talented painter, who painted still lifes and landscapes for pleasure rather than profit.

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution to Gallis on the basis of photographs.