played a pioneering role. He rarely signed or monogrammed and never dated his work. Of his works created on copper three bear the mark of the panel maker Pieter Stas and the dates 1607, 1608 and 1609. Even while a lack of dated works has made it difficult to date his work, stylistic analysis allows a tentative chronology. The works with a high viewpoint and little overlapping of objects are regarded as earlier than those with a lower viewpoint and a compacter arrangement of objects. These later works also have a better spatial coherence. Only four signed works by him are known and from these it has been possible to attribute four works in the Museum of Grenoble to him. Since knowledge about this early stage of the Flemish still life is still fragmentary there has been a tendency to attribute too many works to Beert. Some works attributed to him are likely by his pupils, while some attributed to Osias Beert the younger were probably painted by his father. Osias Beert often painted on oak panels, using a glazing technique. By using multiple superimposed layers of very fluid oil he was able to obtain a transparency and a wide variety of colours. Some of his works are on copper. He was one of the first artists to specialize in still life painting when the production of works in this genre was still minor and typically anonymous. His breakfast pieces, usually referred to by their Dutch name ontbijtjes ("little breakfasts"), represent the scene from a high viewpoint with a forced perspective. This technique is commonly seen in early Flemish and Dutch still life painting. His compositions often show dense groupings in a balanced arrangement. His style is quasi-geometric and shows an eye for detail. He strived for objectivity and displayed a strong sense of plasticity. His still lifes are bathed in an even and diffused light. An example is Still life with cherries and strawberries in China bowls (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), which shows a banquet piece on a table that is slightly tilted so that the objects on it can be viewed without obstruction. The painting represents the last course of an eight to nine course banquet. The dragonfly and the butterfly have an emblematic meaning and represent the fight between good and evil. He was known for his paintings of oysters and confectionery goods displayed orderly on tabletops together with