Balthasar van der Ast was a Dutch still life painter who specialised in flowerpieces, fruitpieces, insects and shells. He was born in Middelburg and became closely associated with the Bosschaert family of painters through the marriage of his sister Maria to Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder in 1604.

After the death of his father in 1609, van der Ast went to live with his sister and brother-in-law and entered the Bosschaert studio around 1610. The works of Bosschaert the Elder greatly influenced the young van der Ast. However, he developed his own individual style by broadening his master's repertoire of subjects and using more varied, sophisticated compositions. Until 1628 van der Ast often dated his works; thereafter dates are rare.

Van der Ast accompanied Bosschaert to Bergen-op-Zoom in 1615 and in 1619 moved to Utrecht, where he entered the guild of St. Luke at the same time as Roelandt Savery (1576-1639). He remained in Utrecht until 1632, when he moved to Delft and joined the guild of St Luke in that city. The following year he married Margrieta Jans van Bueren. He died at Delft in 1657.

The work of van der Ast is represented in the Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.