DOCSLIB.ORG

Still Life of Flowers in a Vase. Oil on Copper, 23.6 X 17.1 Cm

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Still Life of Flowers in a Vase. Oil on Copper, 23.6 X 17.1 Cm Balthasar van der Ast (Middelburg ca.1593 - Delft 1657) Still life of Flowers in a Vase. Oil on Copper, 23.6 x 17.1 cm Signed and dated lower left: B. vander. Ast. 1622 Delicate little painting, masterpiece of balance and harmony, this vase of flowers of Balthasar van der Ast moves us at the same time by its richness and its simplicity. The speech is that of humility, before the creations of the Almighty. This composition is an invitation to wisdom and contemplation of both the simplest and the most beautiful things, it gives us the effect of a mirror and returns us to our own and fragile destiny, thus inciting us to more humility. Balthasar van der Ast ranks among the most brilliant pupils of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, whom he marries his sister, and who was the first great painter of still lifes and flowers of the modern Netherlands. Born in Middelburg, he settled for a time in Utrecht from 1619 before settling in Delft in 1632, a city in which he remained active until his death in 1657. He remained faithful to the manner of his brother-in-law in the early part of his career, about the mid-1620s, sometimes drawing inspiration from the details of small insects or lizards from Roelandt Savery, who returned from Prague and settled like him in Utrecht in the 1620s. The originality of our painting lies in the presence of two elements of very great prices in Holland in the seventeenth century: the tulip and the shell. Coming from Constantinople, the tulip made its entry into Holland at the end of the 16th century, where it enjoyed an immediate success, reinforced in the 17th century by the development of horticulture. The bulbs are slowly appearing on the markets, but, still rare and expensive, they remain the privilege of wealthy bourgeois who garnish their gardens and arouse greed. Become an emblem of prosperity and luxury, the delicate colorful flowers adorn the flower beds as well as the still lifes of which they become a privileged motif. The craze is such that the onions become an object of speculation, with a system of stock market and a tulip course that peaks in 1637 - it is called "tulipomania" - before collapsing. Also from distant lands, exotic shells were brought from Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, the East Indies and the Caribbean by the boats of the flamboyant and insolent East India Company. Populating the cabinets of curiosity, the shells of different species, with varied shapes and pearly reflections, also become privileged motifs of the greatest artists1. Like tulips, shellfish were the subject of speculation and lust and could reach huge prices. The poet Roemer Visscher himself made a sharp criticism: he stigmatized in his book 'Sinnepoppen', published in 1614, the madness of collectors who spent their money in shells. Speech of vanity or speech of fascination on the beauties and the wealth of the creation, Balthasar van der Ast paints on our table the wonders which make us travel. Footnote: 1 L. J. Bol, 'The Bosschaert dynasty', Londres, 1980, p. 39. Provenance: Sale Amsterdam, Paul Brandt, 6 June 1961, no. 29 ; Terry-Engel Gallery, London, in 1964 ; With Douwes, Amsterdam-London, in 1965 ; Sale London, Sotheby's, 9 December 1987, no. 67 ; With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, in 1989 ; Gallery Friederike Pallamar, Vienna; Sale Artcurial, Paris, 13 November 2019, lot 76, reproduced. Exhibitions London, Terry-Engel Gallery, 3 November - 18 December 1964, no. 3 ; Niederländische Meisterwerke des 17. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, Gallery F. Pallamar, 15 October - 30 November 1990, no. 2. Literature: Weltkunst, Munich, 15 May 1961, p. 5, repr.; "Notable works of art now on the market", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CVI, London, 1964, pl. 1 . .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • De Bloemschilders Bosschaert Door A
    DE BLOEMSCHILDERS BOSSCHAERT DOOR A. B R E D I U S. LAF GRANBERG vestigde in den vierden jaargang van dit tijdschrift voor het eerst de aandacht op de fraaie bloem- stukken, met een uit een A en een B samengesteld mono- gram, die hij met groote waarschijnlijkheid aan AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT toeschreef. Inderdaad had hij gelijk. Maar hij dwaalde, toen hij den Amsterdamschen Notaris, die in 1637 van den schilder ABRAHAM BOSSCHAERT sprak, die toen te Am- sterdam woonde, van onnauwkeurigheid beschuldigde. AMBROSIUS had een zoon, die ABRAHAM heette en ook bloemschilder was. (Zie mijne gegevens in het Thieme'sche Allgemeine Künstlerlexicon IV). Een gelukkig toeval deed mij door de welwillendheid van den Heer P. J. KAPTEYN een afschrift verkrijgen van een familieaanteekening van een der kin- deren van AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT, die zich in een boekje met meer genealogische gegevens (in particulier bezit) bevindt. Daaruit blijkt dat de beste schilder A. BOSSCHAERT, de meester van Weenen, ' van het Mauritshuis, van de fijne tulpjes in mijn bezit, die ook alleen het oudste karakter dragen, de oude AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT is, die te Antwerpen, Middel- 138 burg, Utrecht en Breda woonde en toevallig, op reis zijnde, 1621 in den Haag overleed. Als het waar is wat zijn dochter vertelt, werd zijn werk duur betaald. Maar nu komt de moeielijkheid. De vader overleed 1621 in den Haag (toen de Treves geeindigd waren) nalatende drie zoons, allen bloemschilders! En 66n heette 66k AMBROSIUS, en een andere ABRAHAM! Van wien zijn nu alle na 1621 gedateerde stukken die A. BOSSCHAERT gemerkt zijn, zooals het fraaie bloemstuk vroeger in de Verzameling Weber te Hamburg ? en het 1640 gedateerde stuk bij den Heer Wahlberg te Stockholm? a Daar wij nergens meer van den jongen AMBROSIUS gewag gemaakt vinden, ABRAHAM BoSSCHAERT echter als schilder te Amsterdam in verscheidene notarieele acten genoemd wordt, hel ik er toe over, deze stukken voorloopig aan den laatste toe te schrijven.
    [Show full text]
  • * Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to Enlightenment
    Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to enlightenment: European art and culture 1665-1765 Jan van Huysum: the rise and strange demise of the baroque flower piece Richard Beresford 21 / 22 March 2012 Introduction: At his death in 1749 Jan van Huysum was celebrated as the greatest of all flower painters. His biographer Jan van Gool stated that Van Huysum had ‘soared beyond all his predecessors and out of sight’. The pastellist Jean-Etienne Liotard regarded him as having perfected the oil painter’s art. Such was contemporary appreciation of his works that it is thought he was the best paid of any painter in Europe in the 18th century. Van Huysum’s reputation, however, was soon to decline. The Van Eyckian perfection of his technique would be dismissed by a generation learning to appreciate the aesthetic of impressionism. His artistic standing was then blighted by the onset of modernist taste. The 1920s and 30s saw his works removed from public display in public galleries, including both the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis. The critic Just Havelaar was not the only one who wanted to ‘sweep all that flowery rubbish into the garbage’. Echoes of the same sentiment survive even today. It was not until 2006 that the artist received his first serious re-evaluation in the form of a major retrospective exhibition. If we wish to appreciate Van Huysum it is no good looking at his work through the filter an early 20th-century aesthetic prejudice. The purpose of this lecture is to place the artist’s achievement in its true cultural and artistic context.
    [Show full text]
  • ABRAHAM BOSSCHAERT (Middelburg 1612/13 – 1643 Utrecht)
    CS0253 ABRAHAM BOSSCHAERT (Middelburg 1612/13 – 1643 Utrecht) A Still Life of Flowers laid on a Table Signed on the front edge of the table, lower right: ABosschaert On panel, 10 x 12⅝ ins. (25.5 x 32 cm) PROVENANCE Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 16 March 1966, lot 60, where bought by H. Terry-Engell Gallery, London, 1966 Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, 1967 Sale, Amsterdam (Paul Brandt), 20-23 May 1969, lot 3 (illustrated in colour) Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, September 1986 Richard Green, London P. Hoogendijk, Baarn, 1987 Private collection, the Netherlands, until 2014 EXHIBITED London, Terry Engell Gallery, Winter Exhibition, 1966-67, no. II, illustrated Delft, Oude Kunst en Antiekbeurs (Douwes), 1967, (illustrated in guide) Delt, Oude Kunst en Antiekbeurs (Hoogendijk), 1986 Maastricht, Pictura Fine Art Fair (Hoogendijk), 1987, p. 156, (illustrated in colour) LITERATURE Masters of Middelburg: exhibition in honour of Laurens J. Bol, exh. cat. by Sam Segal et. al., Kunsthandel K. & V. Waterman, B.V., Amsterdam, March 1984, p. 75, cat. no. 23 (illustrated) E. Gemar-Koeltzsch, et. al., Holländische Stillebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, Lingen, 1995, vol. I, p. 158, no. 50/1 NARRATIVE This still life by Abraham Bosschaert depicts a few cut flowers lying casually on a wooden table. They do not appear to be arranged in any formal sense, rather one gets the impression that they have just been freshly picked and brought indoors. A yellow iris, a red and white striped carnation and a yellow and red flamed tulip, together with a sprig of forget-me-nots, comprise this intimate floral display.
    [Show full text]
  • Recent Acquisitions (2006–20) at the Mauritshuis, the Hague
    Recent acquisitions (2006–20) at the Mauritshuis, The Hague Supplement COVER_NOV20.indd 1 09/11/2020 09:41 Recent acquisitions (2006–20) at the Mauritshuis, The Hague he royal picture gallery mauritshuis in The 1. Paintings by Nicolaes Berchem reunited at the Mauritshuis. Hague is often likened to a jewellery box that contains (Photograph Ivo Hoekstra). nothing but precious diamonds. Over the past fifteen BankGiro Lottery and the Rembrandt Association, as well as individual years the museum has continued to search for outstanding benefactors, notably Mr H.B. van der Ven, who has helped the museum time works that would further enhance its rich collection of and again. That the privatised Mauritshuis – an independent foundation Dutch and Flemish old master paintings. A director who since 1995 – benefits from private generosity is proved by a great many wants to make worthwhile additions to a collection of such quality must gifts, including seventeenth-century Dutch landscapes by Jacob van Geel Taim very high indeed. The acquisitions discussed here were made during (Fig.5) and Cornelis Vroom (Fig.4), as well as works from the eighteenth the directorship of Frits Duparc, who in January 2008 retired as Director century: a still life by Adriaen Coorte (Fig.2) and a portrait of a Dutch after seventeen years at the museum, and his successor, Emilie Gordenker, sitter by the French travelling artist Jean-Baptiste Perronneau (Fig.16). who earlier this year left the Mauritshuis for a position at the Van Gogh New acquisitions are also supported by numerous other foundations and Museum, Amsterdam. The present Director of the Mauritshuis, Martine funds, all mentioned in the credit lines of individual works.
    [Show full text]
  • DALMI WORKING PAPERS on ART & MARKETS the Artistic Migration
    DALMI Working Paper No. 15231 DALMI WORKING PAPERS ON ART & MARKETS The Artistic Migration Between Mechelen and Delft (1550–1625) Fiene Leunissen Working Paper no. 15231 https://www.dukedalmi.org/wp-content/uploads/15231-Working-Paper.pdf DUKE ART, LAW & MARKETS INITIATIVE 114 S. Buchanan Blvd. Campus Box 90766 Durham, NC 27708 May 2015 DALMI working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed. © 2015 by Fiene Leunissen. All rights reserved. Leunissen May 2015 DALMI Working Paper No. 15231 The Artistic Migration Between Mechelen and Delft (1550–1625) Fiene Leunissen DALMI Working Paper No. 15231 May 2015 ABSTRACT Mechelen (Malines) is a small city in present-day Belgium, positioned between Antwerp and Brussels, along the river the Dijle. While most people today have never heard anything about this city or its history, this small town was once one of the most important cities in the Low Countries. It was also hub for the production of watercolor paintings. During the religious turmoil in the second half of the 16th century a large portion of artists fled the city to find a better life in other European cities. One of these places was Delft, were a group of 24 Mechelen artists settled. In this paper we look at the lives of these artists to better understand the knowledge circulation between the north and the south at the turn of the 17th century. Keywords: Art Markets, Mechelen, Delft, Seventeenth Century JEL: Z11 Leunissen May 2015 DALMI Working Paper No. 15231 Leunissen May 2015 DALMI Working Paper No.
    [Show full text]
  • Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century Ambrosius Bosschaert Dutch, 1573 - 1621 Bouquet of Flowers in a Glass Vase 1621 oil on copper overall: 31.6 x 21.6 cm (12 7/16 x 8 1/2 in.) framed: 53.3 x 43.8 x 5.7 cm (21 x 17 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.) Inscription: lower right in monogram: .AB.1621; across bottom in blue field: C'est l'Angelicq[ue] main du gra[n]d Peinctre de Flore / AMBROISE, renommé jusqu' au Rivage Moré. (This is the angelic hand of the great painter of Flora, Ambrosius, renowned even to the banks of the Moré). Patrons' Permanent Fund and New Century Fund 1996.35.1 ENTRY Ambrosius Bosschaert infused his flower bouquets with a sense of wonder. He had an unerring compositional awareness, and delighted in combining an array of flowers of various colors and shapes to create a pleasing and uplifting visual experience. Here, a spectacular yellow bearded iris and a red-and-white striped tulip surmount a bouquet that also contains, among others, roses, a blue-and-white columbine, fritillaria, grape hyacinth, lily of the valley, forget-me-not, globeflowers, and a sprig of rosemary. [1] At the base of the ribbed onion-shaped glass vase lie a pansy and a cyclamen blossom. [2] A damselfly alighting on the iris and a Red Admiral butterfly on the cyclamen further enliven the composition. These flowers could not have all been in bloom at the same time; therefore, and because several of them recur in other paintings by Bosschaert, he must have worked from memory or from drawings he kept in his studio.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Release (PDF)
    YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y A R T PRESS For Immediate Release GALLERY RELEASE September 26, 2014 AN OUTSTANDING LOAN TO THE YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY OF 30 DUTCH 17TH-CENTURY PAINTINGS FROM THE ROSE-MARIE AND EIJK VAN OTTERLOO COLLECTION New Haven, Conn., September 26, 2014—The tremendous commercial and political success enjoyed by the Dutch Republic during the 17th century led to an unprecedented period of cultural, artistic, and scientific accomplishment in the Netherlands. This era is generally considered the Golden Age of Dutch art, when painters developed a range of new styles and subjects and achieved levels of quality unparalleled by any other European school at the time. Already coveted by collectors in 18th-century Britain, paintings by the Dutch masters have been the object of fierce competition among Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem, ca. 1670–75. Oil on canvas. Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo French, German, and American collectors since the middle of the Collection 19th century, and today they command pride of place on the walls of museums and galleries around the world. Over the past two decades, Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo have assembled one of the most magnificent private collections of 17th-century Dutch art in the world, comprising superb examples of nearly all the major categories of subject matter explored by artists of the time: portraits, landscapes, church interiors, still lifes, genre scenes, and more. All of the works in the van Otterloo collection are distinguished by their remarkable quality, enviable condition, and dazzling display of pictorial craft.
    [Show full text]
  • Bosschaert, Ambrosius Dutch, 1573 - 1621
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century Bosschaert, Ambrosius Dutch, 1573 - 1621 BIOGRAPHY Ambrosius Bosschaert III (often referred to as Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder) was one of the pioneers of Dutch still-life painting. Bosschaert was born in 1573 in Antwerp, the son of the artist Ambrosius Bosschaert II and his wife, Johanna.[1] He presumably received his artistic training from his father. It is likely that Bosschaert began his career depicting rare and exotic flowers and fruit in botanical gardens, and some of his drawings may have been made for the botanist Carolus Clusius. It is certain that Bosschaert used such drawings to compose his paintings, which often include identical flowers, sometimes rendered in reverse. Following Antwerp’s reconquest by Spanish forces in 1585 and the subsequent expulsion of all non-Catholics, the Protestant Bosschaert family moved to Middelburg in about 1589. There the artist joined the Saint Luke’s Guild in 1593. “Ambrosius Bosschaert” is listed as dean of the guild in 1597, 1598, 1603, 1604, and 1613, but it is unclear whether these dates pertain to Bosschaert or his father. Middelburg, a prosperous trading center and the capital of Zeeland, was renowned for its botanical gardens, the most important of which was established in the 1590s by the great botanist Matthias Lobelius. After Lobelius left for England in 1602, his herb garden was transformed into a flower garden and was almost certainly filled with exotic species imported from the Balkan peninsula, the Near and Far East, and the New World.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Secret of Trade': Snails and Shells of Land Molluscs
    B2015-13:Basteria-2015 11/20/2015 3:08 PM Page 81 From a ‘domestic commodity ’ to a ‘secret of trade ’: snails and shells of land molluscs in early (mainly 16 th and 17 th century) visual arts Abraham S.H. Breure Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O.Box 9517, NL -2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium; [email protected] Susanne R. de Heer Himalaya 222, 3524 XK Utrecht, The Netherlands ; [email protected] mussels) and very peculiar ones (e.g., Nautilus shells). Species of land snails and slugs may be found on The remaining ones are mainly tropical sea shells, 81 paintings and other works of visual arts from the late usually species from the Indo-Pacific area. In general, 15 th century onwards. While in the beginning the illus - these are paintings in which shells are combined with trations were often imprecise, this changed in the late a variety of objects; however, some paintings are a 16 th century and most species were realistically illus - still-life of only these shells (e.g. Meijer, 2006: 100– 101, trated. This was especially so during the 17 th century, figs 18 –21; Sch ütz, 2002: 107). An exhibition of visual when still-life painting including one or more snails arts with shells as main topic is a rare exception became well developed in Flanders and the Nether - (Woldbye & von Meyenburg, 1984; Barten, 1985). lands. We have checked 582 works of art, the majority However, with a keen eye one can discover specimens showing European species, of which five related to of land snail species in a number of visual art works, slugs; 45 of these works have one or more species mainly in the still-life genre from the 17 th century.
    [Show full text]
  • 'God Is Revealed in the Smallest Work of His Creation'
    Click here for Full Issue of Fidelio Volume 8, Number 2, Summer 1999 EXHIBITS Adriaen van de Venne, “God is revealed in the smallest work of his Creation,” 1623. books. While many of these objects were of a devotional nature, some were natural objects such as flowers and insects, which were pressed between the pages. Observation of Nature It was the discovery of many plant species that had been unknown to the ancients, which inspired Renaissance scholars to observe nature directly, rather than merely relying on such sources as Pliny and the other botanical studies of antiquity. As a result, during the Sixteenth century, the number of plants identified by botanists increase National Gallery of Art, Library six-fold, from about one thousand, to six thousand species. In his Four Books on Human Propor- ‘God Is Revealed in the tion (1528), Albrecht Dürer argues for the importance of observing nature: “But life in nature manifests the Smallest Work of His Creation’ truth of these things. Therefore, observe it diligently; go by it and do not depart hile the chill winds of January ry Northern Renaissance that still-life from nature arbitrarily, imagining to Wstill blustered outside, giving lit- painting was accepted as an appropriate find the better by thyself, for thou tle hint of the spring to come, an exhib- subject for a work of art. Up to that wouldst be misled. For, verily ‘art’ [i.e., it at Washington’s National Gallery of time, “still-lifes” were to be found only knowledge] is embedded in nature, he Art gave hope that the delightful as details of Northern, as well as Italian who can extract it, has it.” forms, hues, and scents of the season of Renaissance paintings.
    [Show full text]
  • AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT the Younger (Arnemuiden 1609 – 1645 Utrecht)
    VP4943 AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT the Younger (Arnemuiden 1609 – 1645 Utrecht) A Still Life of a Vase of Flowers and a Basket of Fruit In a Niche Signed, lower right: A. Bosschaert fecit Oil on panel, 14⅞ x 18½ ins. (35.8 x 46.8 cm) PROVENANCE With Cord Heinrich Schwagermann, Schiedam, circa 1935 Lady Hollenden, until 1978 Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 12 April 1978, lot 15 With Alexander Gallery, London, 1979 The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California, U.S.A. Sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, New York, 19 January, 1982, lot 87 With Noortman & Brod, London, Maastricht & New York, 1982 Private collection,Germany, 1982-2009 With Johnny Van Haeften Limited, London, 2009 Private collection, Italy, 2011-2020 EXHIBITED Dutch and Flemish Old Master Paintings: Catalogue Seventeen, Johnny Van Haeften Limited, London, 2009, cat. no. 4. LITERATURE L. J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty: Painters of Flowers and Fruit, 1960, p. 96, no. 30 A still life of flowers and fruit appears on a ledge before a niche. On the left, arranged in a simple glass vase, is a small bouquet, comprising two striped tulips, a couple of pink roses, a rosebud, a lily, aquilegias and a yellow daisy: the globular shape of the container provides a satisfying sense of weight that balances the heavy-headed blooms. A fallen petal lies close to the edge of the ledge. On the right, is a wicker basket containing a profusion of red and yellow cherries, plums, pears and black- and white-currants. The basket is tilted forward, causing some of its contents to spill out onto the ledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Basket of Fruits C
    National Gallery of Art NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART ONLINE EDITIONS Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century Balthasar van der Ast Dutch, 1593/1594 - 1657 Basket of Fruits c. 1622 oil on panel painted surface: 18.1 x 22.8 cm (7 1/8 x 9 in.) overall (with additions): 18.8 x 23.5 cm (7 3/8 x 9 1/4 in.) framed: 38.4 x 43.8 x 3.2 cm (15 1/8 x 17 1/4 x 1 1/4 in.) Inscription: lower right: .B.vander.ast... Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon 1992.51.1 ENTRY By the early 1630s, the Prince of Orange, Frederik Hendrik, and his wife, Amalia van Solms, had formed an important collection of contemporary Dutch and Flemish paintings. Their taste led them to collect mythological and allegorical paintings as well as princely portraits. The inventory of their possessions made in 1632 lists only four still lifes, two of which hung in a small room belonging to the princess that also contained two allegorical paintings attributed to Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577 - 1640) and a portrait of Amalia van Solms by Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 - 1669). As described in the inventory, the still lifes were “two small paintings in ebony frames, one a basket with fruit and the other a basket with flowers, by Van der Ast.”[1] These two paintings must be Basket of Fruits and Basket of Flowers, one of the rare sets of companion pieces created by this early seventeenth-century master.[2] While it is not known when or how Van der Ast’s paintings were acquired by Amalia van Solms, their existence in the princely collection indicates the esteem in which this artist was held
    [Show full text]