VP4711

BALTHASAR VAN DER AST (Middelburg 1593/94 – 1657 )

A of Tulips and other Flowers in a ceramic Vase

Signed and dated, lower right: . B . VandeR . ast. 1625 On panel, 16 x 10⅞ ins. (40.8 x 27.6 cm)

PROVENANCE Private collection, Belgium, since circa 1900 From where recently acquired by the previous owner

Note: We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the RKD in The Hague for endorsing the attribution following first-hand inspection.

This previously unrecorded painting is a major addition to the oeuvre of Balthasar van der Ast, one of the greatest flower painters of the . Preserved in a private Belgian collection since the beginning of the last century, it only came to light recently and therefore escaped the attention of modern scholars. Beautifully signed and dated 1625, it is a fine and characteristic example of a floral still life from the artist’s early maturity. A simple arrangement of striped tulips and a snowy-white rose appears in a gilt-mounted, Chinese Wan-Li porcelain vase, standing on a table. Sprays of forget-me-nots and lilies-of-the-valley are interspersed among the larger, showy blooms. A single stem of scarlet pimpernel lies on the tabletop. The bouquet is enlivened by the presence of a wasp, a damsel fly, a Painted Lady butterfly and a sand lizard. The predominantly red and white blooms emerge boldly from the dark background. Shadows cast by the wasp on the tabletop and other illusionistic details such as the glistening drops of water and the claws of the lizard, curled over part of the signature, add to the picture’s tactile appeal.

The art of Balthasar van der Ast is neatly summarised in words of the Amsterdam doctor and art lover Jan Sysmus: “In flowers, shells and lizards, beautiful” i. Born in Middelburg, van der Ast was taught the art of floral painting by his brother-in-law I (1573- 1621), the founder of a dynasty of flower painters. In 1615, he followed Bosschaert to Bergen-op-Zoom and then to , where he became a member of the painters’ guild in 1619, the same year as Roelandt Savery (1578-1639). Bosschaert died suddenly in 1621, but van der Ast remained in Utrecht until 1632, when he moved permanently to Delft.

A highly successful and productive artist, van der Ast left a substantial oeuvre, ranging from large canvases to very small coppers and panels. Besides his flower pieces, he produced still lifes of fruit and shells and more complex compositions in which these elements are combined. In his work, van der Ast built on the achievements of his predecessors, whilst introducing innovations of his own. As the tutor of Bosschaert’s three sons, and also possibly of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, he provides an important link between the first and second phases of seventeenth-century Dutch flower painting.

Van der Ast painted this vase of flowers in Utrecht during the most prolific phase of his career. It also happens to be the best documented period of his activity, as he regularly dated his works up to 1625, but seems to have virtually abandoned the practice after 1626. During the early to mid-1620s, he remained strongly under the influence of his teacher, but at the same time found inspiration in the work of Roelandt Savery. A contemporary of Bosschaert’s and an important pioneer of flower painting, Savery settled in Utrecht in 1618, after a lengthy sojourn at the imperial court in Prague. His floral still life of 1603 (private American collectionii), painted either in Amsterdam or Prague, is the earliest surviving example of the genre by a Dutch or Flemish painter. In van der Ast’s work, it may truly be said that the traditions of Bosschaert and Savery are merged. Here, for example, the formula of a symmetrically arranged bouquet of flowers in a small porcelain vase is clearly derived from Bosschaert, but in its looser, more naturalistic arrangement, softer line and more subdued palette, it takes its cue from Savery. In van der Ast’s still life, air seems to flow freely among the flowers and stems and subtle gradations of light and dark enhance the impression of depth and volume. The inclusion here of insects and a reptile is another feature that reflects the influence of Savery, whose still lifes are invariably filled with little creatures that creep and crawl.

Despite the convincing and naturalistic appearance of van der Ast’s bouquet, all the indications are that he did not paint directly from an arrangement of flowers set before him on a table. Rather, he would have worked from a repertory of drawings or watercolour studies of individual specimens taken from life whilst developing his composition for the much more time-consuming medium of oil paint. One of the consequences of this practice is the oft-remarked-upon phenomenon of flowers from different seasons of the year appearing together in the same bouquet, and another is the repetition of certain motifs in more than one painting. In this painting, for instance, the sand lizard, with its curving pose, and the Painted Lady butterfly, with its wings slightly parted, may also be found in a larger still life, dated 1625, depicting a bowl of fruit and a vase of flowers, which was sold at auction on 12 July, 2001iii. Also, the red and white tulip, which extends vertically at the upper centre of the design, with one petal falling to the right, recurs in the artist’s still life from the same year in the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, Schloss Georgium, Dessau (inv. No. 425).

Balthasar van der Ast was born in Middelburg around 1593 or 1594, but was orphaned when his father Hans van der Ast died in 1609. Subsequently, he entered the household of his sister, Maria, and his much older brother-in-law, the artist Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Van der Ast became Bosschaert’s pupil and moved with the Bosschaert family first to Bergen- op-Zoom, where they are recorded in 1615, and then to Utrecht in the following year. His earliest known dated paintings are from 1617, two years before he became a member of the Guild in Utrecht. He remained there until 1632 when he moved to Delft, enrolling in the painters’ Guild on 22 June that year. The following year, he married Margrieta Jans van Bueren and the couple had two daughters. He died in 1657 and was buried in the Oude Kerk in Delft.

P.M.

i Dr. A. Bredius, Het Schildersregister van Jan Sysmus, Oud-Holland, VIII, 1890, p. 4. ii Roelandt Savery, Flowers in a Vase, dated 1603, on copper, 29 x 19 cm, private collection, U.S.A. iii Balthasar van der Ast, A Still Life of Fruit with a Vase of Flowers, signed and dated 1625, on panel, 44.2 x 76.8 cm, Sotheby’s, London, 12 July 2001, lot 41.