be translated as: 'Everyone is sick from birth / vanity is ruining the world'. In the suspended glass sphere in the composition can be seen the reflection of a room and the figure of an artist looking towards the viewer, probably a self-portrait. Self-portraits have been identified in at least nine of van Roestraten's still lifes. Van Rosetraten painted a number of self-portraits, four of which are preserved. These all show the artist holding objects that appear in his still lifes, including glassware, a clay pipe and a lemon. In one self-portrait he holds a very large wineglass, perhaps in reference to Bacchus or the sense of taste. It may be a reference to Annibale Carracci's Boy Drinking (Cleveland Museum of Art). He also painted a number of genre scenes. An example is The Dissolute Kitchen Maid (1665, Frans Halsmuseum). While it looks like a scene from daily life, it has a clear erotic meaning. The woman is acting in a shameless manner. A monkey, the symbol of wanton behaviour, leers up her dress. It is on a chain thus reminding us that man is a prisoner of his sinful desires. The picture conveys a moral message, reflected in the old man's raised finger: beware of sinful behaviour. He influenced Christian Berentz and Robert Robinson. Around 1990 Fred Meijer of the Netherlands Institute for Art History created the notname 'Pseudo-Roestraten' for an unknown artist to whom he attributed a large number of still lifes with books, documents and precious objects in a style somewhat related to that of Pieter van Roestraeten. References External links 1630 births 1700 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch still life painters Dutch portrait painters Dutch genre painters Artists from Haarlem