Dutch painter Balthasar van der Ast was most famous for his still lifes of flowers, fruit, and shells. He is considered a pioneer of shell painting. Many of his paintings also included lizards and insects. These works are often beautiful and enticing. The artist's style is often described as neoclassical, but his work is based on naturalistic forms and often shows the world as it is.

Van der Ast was born in 1608 in Middelburg. His father was a woollen merchant. He was trained in the studio of his uncle, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, a twenty-year-old artist who died in 1621. During the 1620s and 1630s, Utrecht became the Dutch center for flower painting, with the likes of Jacob Marrel, Johannes Baers, and Roelant Savery working in the same town.