The chronology of Collier's peripatetic life is not entirely clear, but he left for England on 2nd May 1693 and probably remained there until 1707 when a still life, his last, is signed and dated (on a portrait of Charles I) E. Collier Fecit./ London 1707. However, it seems he returned often to Leiden, where he had lived from 1667 to 1693, and is recorded there in 1700 and in 1706. He probably trained in Haarlem as his earliest still lifes, from the 1650s, manifest the influence of Pieter Claesz. and, in particular, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne; indeed he inscribed the name V. Laurens on what is probably his first vanitas still life, painted in 1656.

Collier was clearly a colourful character and was married three...