This week’s works of art are by Johann Georg Hinz, a German painter from Hamburg. His last name was also sometime spelled Hintz, Hainz or Heintz. He was born in 1630, in Altona, but spent most of his life painting in Hamburg, where he’s best known for his still life paintings. Many of them had beer in the painting — it was Germany after all — like the first one below: Still Life with Beer Glass.
And the second is simply Still Life.
And here’s a third, also titled simply Still Life.
There’s no dates for any of them, though Hinz is believed to have spent some time in Amsterdam and came to Hamburg in the 1660s. I was in Amsterdam he picked up the idea for still life painting and was the first to paint them in Hamburg, and possibly in Germany, too. You can see a few more of paintings at WikiGallery.
It’s very cool to look at these… So often we read historical beer stuff and think, “Wow, I wish I could see a photo of what beer looked like back then. Too bad cameras weren’t invented yet.” Yeah. Still lifes. I’m glad someone was painting something besides fruit. Obviously here was a man who appreciated a beautiful glass of beer. A 17th Century version of the geek who snaps photos of nearly every glass of beer. I.e., me.
A pale, clear beer by the way. In the 1600s. Long before 1842 and far from Pilsen.