Early Still Life
1607 The Bouquets of Middelburg
2019 SOLD for $ 3M including premium
At the time of the development of botanical gardens and pleasure gardens, the bouquet of flowers discreetly animated by insects and lizards becomes an autonomous theme in painting. It has as precursors Dürer and Hoefnagel and as pioneers Ambrosius Bosschaert and Jan Brueghel.
The tradition of Dürer's naturalistic image had been maintained at Nuremberg by Hans Hoffmann. Accompanying the craze for cabinets of curiosity, Hoefnagel gathered images of plants and small animals in disparate and didactic alignments that somewhat evoke the insect boxes of our modern entomologists.
The island town of Middelburg in Zeeland had a strong cultural and scientific activity including an important botanical garden. In 1593 Bosschaert is identified as a member of the local guild of Saint Luke. His earliest dated paintings, in 1605, are full-page images in the style of Hoefnagel.
Bosschaert and Brueghel invent the painting of bouquets in a vase in 1606. Working for Cardinal Borromeo but residing in Antwerp, Brueghel paints opulent accumulations mixing flowers of all seasons.
Bosschaert paints simpler arrangements on copper in small format. In this early phase we must not look for a specific meaning behind each flower. It must instead be considered that the cultivation of ornamental flowers, imported from the East and modified by skillful hybridizers, is considered as a top luxury in the Netherlands of his time. Ambitious and aware of the importance of his art, Bosschaert signs with a monogram AB imitating the AD of Dürer.
On January 30 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on copper 24 x 18 cm painted by Bosschaert in 1607, lot 26 estimated $ 2.5M. With other flowers in a similar composition, an oil on copper of the same period was sold for CHF 5.8M including premium by Koller on September 19, 2008. The technique on copper allows a great naturalistic precision.
The tradition of Dürer's naturalistic image had been maintained at Nuremberg by Hans Hoffmann. Accompanying the craze for cabinets of curiosity, Hoefnagel gathered images of plants and small animals in disparate and didactic alignments that somewhat evoke the insect boxes of our modern entomologists.
The island town of Middelburg in Zeeland had a strong cultural and scientific activity including an important botanical garden. In 1593 Bosschaert is identified as a member of the local guild of Saint Luke. His earliest dated paintings, in 1605, are full-page images in the style of Hoefnagel.
Bosschaert and Brueghel invent the painting of bouquets in a vase in 1606. Working for Cardinal Borromeo but residing in Antwerp, Brueghel paints opulent accumulations mixing flowers of all seasons.
Bosschaert paints simpler arrangements on copper in small format. In this early phase we must not look for a specific meaning behind each flower. It must instead be considered that the cultivation of ornamental flowers, imported from the East and modified by skillful hybridizers, is considered as a top luxury in the Netherlands of his time. Ambitious and aware of the importance of his art, Bosschaert signs with a monogram AB imitating the AD of Dürer.
On January 30 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on copper 24 x 18 cm painted by Bosschaert in 1607, lot 26 estimated $ 2.5M. With other flowers in a similar composition, an oil on copper of the same period was sold for CHF 5.8M including premium by Koller on September 19, 2008. The technique on copper allows a great naturalistic precision.
1607 Fruit and Jasmine in Milan
2019 SOLD for $ 2.4M including premium
Fede Galizia is the daughter of a miniaturist painter. She lives in Milan and certainly knows the art of Caravaggio. From childhood she is recognized as a talented artist for portraits and religious scenes.
Her contemporaries did not pay attention to her still lifes of fruit. She is the pioneer of this pictorial genre that will become more important over the centuries, culminating with Cézanne and Gauguin. Her intention with this innovation has not been documented. For her predecessors including Caravaggio, this theme was only a modello to be introduced into animated compositions.
In 1998 an oil on panel 31 x 45 cm surfaced. It is the only still life by Galizia that is signed, with the monogram FG, and dated, 1607. The date is significant : in the previous year Jan Brueghel created his first paintings of bouquets of flowers to satisfy the naturalistic taste of the archbishop of Milan.
This dated painting offers a symmetrical composition, broken only by the arrangement of some fruits placed directly on the table, the others being raised in a transparent tazza. The lighting is frontal, unlike the light studies that will soon be done by Claesz and Heda in their breakfast paintings. In this simple composition, the highest care is given to the texture of the fruits.
Galizia's corpus of still lifes often includes autograph copies. The dated version is certainly a prototype, and perhaps even the earliest of them. This composition of peaches and quinces along with a few jasmine flowers was sold for £ 1.56M including premium by Sotheby's on July 8, 2015.
A very similar painting mostly differentiated by the appearance of a grasshopper was sold for $ 1.64M including premium by Christie's on April 6, 2006. The catalog of the auction house indicated a pristine state bringing a crystalline sharpness. This oil on panel 31 x 43 cm is estimated $ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 30, lot 42.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Her contemporaries did not pay attention to her still lifes of fruit. She is the pioneer of this pictorial genre that will become more important over the centuries, culminating with Cézanne and Gauguin. Her intention with this innovation has not been documented. For her predecessors including Caravaggio, this theme was only a modello to be introduced into animated compositions.
In 1998 an oil on panel 31 x 45 cm surfaced. It is the only still life by Galizia that is signed, with the monogram FG, and dated, 1607. The date is significant : in the previous year Jan Brueghel created his first paintings of bouquets of flowers to satisfy the naturalistic taste of the archbishop of Milan.
This dated painting offers a symmetrical composition, broken only by the arrangement of some fruits placed directly on the table, the others being raised in a transparent tazza. The lighting is frontal, unlike the light studies that will soon be done by Claesz and Heda in their breakfast paintings. In this simple composition, the highest care is given to the texture of the fruits.
Galizia's corpus of still lifes often includes autograph copies. The dated version is certainly a prototype, and perhaps even the earliest of them. This composition of peaches and quinces along with a few jasmine flowers was sold for £ 1.56M including premium by Sotheby's on July 8, 2015.
A very similar painting mostly differentiated by the appearance of a grasshopper was sold for $ 1.64M including premium by Christie's on April 6, 2006. The catalog of the auction house indicated a pristine state bringing a crystalline sharpness. This oil on panel 31 x 43 cm is estimated $ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 30, lot 42.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Celebrating women in art including unsung female Old Masters at @Sothebys upcoming Female Triumphant Sale! https://t.co/99HXaeOpIS pic.twitter.com/IN5Olc10lK
— quintessence (@quintessenceblg) January 14, 2019
1608 Flowers in an Oil on Copper by Bosschaert
2008 SOLD 5.8 MCHF including premium
This small copper 26x18 cm, which Koller sells in Zurich on September 19 is typical of Flemish still lifes from the early seventeenth century. It depicts a bouquet of flowers in a glass, a butterfly, a shell. The composition, well centred, highlights the tulips. The painting is monogramed AB, and includes a trace of date: 160., probably 1608.
Its author, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, is so named today to distinguish him from his son Ambrosius. The latter, and the Elder's two other sons Abraham and Johannes, also painted still lifes, but the best known of the family is perhaps Balthasar van der Ast, brother-in-law and pupil of the elder Ambrosius.
On 10 July 2002, Sotheby's achieved good results on works by these painters. A bouquet in a window, oil on copper of 28 x 23 cm by Ambrosius the Elder and typical of his work, had been sold £ 2.1 million charge included. The same day, an oval oil on copper of 1624 by Balthasar has almost reached 950 K £.
With a composition very similar as the copper to be sold by Koller, another oil on copper, by Ambrosius the Elder, 30 x 20 cm, was sold £ 1.75 million by Sotheby's in London in July 2000. It was on my taste more interesting than the Koller's, because the flowers were more numerous and less dispersed. In both works, the glass is almost identical.
It derives from these figures that the estimate given by Koller, 2.5 MCHF, is ambitious, but the auction house announced that the painting is in exceptional condition, after being kept for 150 years in the same collection.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
Koller got a good result on these flowers by Bosschaert: 5 MCHF excluding charges, twice the low estimate.
This article will have a following:
A bouquet in a niche by Balthasar van der Ast, 48 x 36 cm, is the lot 16 of the sale of Zürichsee Auktionen in Erlenbach on September 24 (estimated 500 KCHF). As I said in the article above, Balthasar was the brother in law of Ambrosius Bosschaert.
2
Balthasar's painting was not sold.
Its author, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, is so named today to distinguish him from his son Ambrosius. The latter, and the Elder's two other sons Abraham and Johannes, also painted still lifes, but the best known of the family is perhaps Balthasar van der Ast, brother-in-law and pupil of the elder Ambrosius.
On 10 July 2002, Sotheby's achieved good results on works by these painters. A bouquet in a window, oil on copper of 28 x 23 cm by Ambrosius the Elder and typical of his work, had been sold £ 2.1 million charge included. The same day, an oval oil on copper of 1624 by Balthasar has almost reached 950 K £.
With a composition very similar as the copper to be sold by Koller, another oil on copper, by Ambrosius the Elder, 30 x 20 cm, was sold £ 1.75 million by Sotheby's in London in July 2000. It was on my taste more interesting than the Koller's, because the flowers were more numerous and less dispersed. In both works, the glass is almost identical.
It derives from these figures that the estimate given by Koller, 2.5 MCHF, is ambitious, but the auction house announced that the painting is in exceptional condition, after being kept for 150 years in the same collection.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
Koller got a good result on these flowers by Bosschaert: 5 MCHF excluding charges, twice the low estimate.
This article will have a following:
A bouquet in a niche by Balthasar van der Ast, 48 x 36 cm, is the lot 16 of the sale of Zürichsee Auktionen in Erlenbach on September 24 (estimated 500 KCHF). As I said in the article above, Balthasar was the brother in law of Ambrosius Bosschaert.
2
Balthasar's painting was not sold.
1608 The Blossoms of Four Months
2016 SOLD for £ 3.85M including premium
A precocious artist, Jan Brueghel found patrons in Italy. Back in Antwerp in 1596, he remains in touch with the young cardinal Federico Borromeo recently appointed Archbishop of Milan.
Tastes change. Religious wars brought a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
In 1606 Brueghel invents the still life of flowers. The details of his letters provide some view into the process of his first trial that is already a masterpiece. It is quite possible that this new style is executed by the artist from an idea suggested by the cardinal.
This is of course not the first time that a painting shows flowers in a vase, but these artworks previously considered as minor had mainly serve as modelli to be included in more ambitious compositions. Borromeo wishes a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Very enthusiastic for this project, Brueghel painted the flowers from late spring until late summer within an overall plan that allows him to add them at their rightful place on the panel as and when they hatch. The great variety of brilliant colors meets the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel.
The artist produced several paintings in a similar technique in the following years. He gave up soon although not before 1611 their painting by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and the arrangements inside wreaths.
One of the first original flower paintings by Brueghel is estimated £ 3M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 6, lot 11. This oil on oak panel is dated circa 1608 by experts.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
Tastes change. Religious wars brought a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
In 1606 Brueghel invents the still life of flowers. The details of his letters provide some view into the process of his first trial that is already a masterpiece. It is quite possible that this new style is executed by the artist from an idea suggested by the cardinal.
This is of course not the first time that a painting shows flowers in a vase, but these artworks previously considered as minor had mainly serve as modelli to be included in more ambitious compositions. Borromeo wishes a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Very enthusiastic for this project, Brueghel painted the flowers from late spring until late summer within an overall plan that allows him to add them at their rightful place on the panel as and when they hatch. The great variety of brilliant colors meets the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel.
The artist produced several paintings in a similar technique in the following years. He gave up soon although not before 1611 their painting by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and the arrangements inside wreaths.
One of the first original flower paintings by Brueghel is estimated £ 3M for sale by Sotheby's in London on July 6, lot 11. This oil on oak panel is dated circa 1608 by experts.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
#AuctionUpdate Outstanding Jan Brueghel the Elder work blossoms in the sale room to record for a still-life at £3.8m pic.twitter.com/QE6mt1AwyG
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 6, 2016
1612 Roelandt Savery at the Court of Rudolf II
2012 SOLD 5.4 MCHF including premium
Roelandt Savery is a Dutch painter born in Kortrijk in Flanders, but it is in Prague with Rudolf II that he develops an art which was new for the time. He activates the animals of the exotic menagerie of the emperor in the themes of the gardens of Paradise, of Noah's Ark and of the charms of Orpheus.
He is also one of the first artists to show still lifes of flowers. According to a design that will be copied many times, he arranges them as a tight bouquet in a vase located in a niche. Small reptiles and insects animate the scene.
Such a bouquet in a small oil on copper, 13.5 x 17 cm, dated 1612, is estimated CHF 2.8 million, for sale by Koller in Zurich on March 30. Here is the link to the catalogue.
This painting had been sold £ 1.76 million including premium by Sotheby's on 12 July 2001.
POST SALE COMMENT
Excellent price for this interesting painting despite its small size: CHF 4.7 million before fees, 5.4 million including premium.
This auction house often gets great results on old painting. In September 2008, a bouquet painted in 1608 by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder had been sold for CHF 5.8 million including premium.
He is also one of the first artists to show still lifes of flowers. According to a design that will be copied many times, he arranges them as a tight bouquet in a vase located in a niche. Small reptiles and insects animate the scene.
Such a bouquet in a small oil on copper, 13.5 x 17 cm, dated 1612, is estimated CHF 2.8 million, for sale by Koller in Zurich on March 30. Here is the link to the catalogue.
This painting had been sold £ 1.76 million including premium by Sotheby's on 12 July 2001.
POST SALE COMMENT
Excellent price for this interesting painting despite its small size: CHF 4.7 million before fees, 5.4 million including premium.
This auction house often gets great results on old painting. In September 2008, a bouquet painted in 1608 by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder had been sold for CHF 5.8 million including premium.
1620 The Jovial Conspiracies of Isabella Brant
2018 SOLD for $ 5.7M including premium
On April 19 in New York, Christie's sells an oil painting 105 x 76 cm by Rubens on the theme of a satyr holding a basket of grapes and quinces with a nymph at his side, dated around 1620 by the auction house. It is estimated $ 5M, lot 41.
The bearded satyr is in the prime of his life, with two thin horns on his forehead and pointed ears. The nymph is ready to grab a grape in the basket. The two characters do not look at each other but have the same jovial smile.
They are featured in other compositions of the same period. In a lost painting known through copies, the same nymph is naked under a transparent veil. Interestingly they are linked with two group scenes, Bacchanal and Drunken Silenus, both of which are disgusting images intended to make viewers aware of the consequences of debauchery.
The Bacchanal, 95 x 107 cm, is traditionally dated around 1615 and kept at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Our satyr is on the left, nude and drunk, supported with difficulty by a naked satyress with legs and hooves of a goat.
The Drunken Silenus is traditionally dated between 1616 and 1617. The surviving version 212 x 214 cm kept at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich is one of Rubens' most famous masterpieces. Around the staggering satyr, all the other characters at the top of the picture are laughing. Another version was destroyed in Berlin in 1945.
In Drunken Silenus the woman just behind the satyr emits a happy look of connivance towards the spectator as if it was she who had abused the weakness of the old male with grape and wine. She had the same role as the central figure in Lot and his daughters painted in 1614 who is busy to drunk her father. It is not a coincidence that the faces of these young women are similar : they are certainly portraits of the ever smiling Isabella Brant, the wife of Rubens.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The bearded satyr is in the prime of his life, with two thin horns on his forehead and pointed ears. The nymph is ready to grab a grape in the basket. The two characters do not look at each other but have the same jovial smile.
They are featured in other compositions of the same period. In a lost painting known through copies, the same nymph is naked under a transparent veil. Interestingly they are linked with two group scenes, Bacchanal and Drunken Silenus, both of which are disgusting images intended to make viewers aware of the consequences of debauchery.
The Bacchanal, 95 x 107 cm, is traditionally dated around 1615 and kept at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Our satyr is on the left, nude and drunk, supported with difficulty by a naked satyress with legs and hooves of a goat.
The Drunken Silenus is traditionally dated between 1616 and 1617. The surviving version 212 x 214 cm kept at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich is one of Rubens' most famous masterpieces. Around the staggering satyr, all the other characters at the top of the picture are laughing. Another version was destroyed in Berlin in 1945.
In Drunken Silenus the woman just behind the satyr emits a happy look of connivance towards the spectator as if it was she who had abused the weakness of the old male with grape and wine. She had the same role as the central figure in Lot and his daughters painted in 1614 who is busy to drunk her father. It is not a coincidence that the faces of these young women are similar : they are certainly portraits of the ever smiling Isabella Brant, the wife of Rubens.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The Beautiful Fruit of Fede Galizia
2018 SOLD for $ 2.1M including premium
The daughter of a miniaturist painter, Fede Galizia makes her entire career in Milan. Her early skill was already recognized at the age of about 12 in 1586. She painted portraits and scenes of devotion with great care to realistic details.
Federico Borromeo becomes archbishop of Milan in 1595. He is one of the greatest helpers in the history of art, for whom Jan Brueghel the Elder creates in 1606 the theme of the still life of flowers. In 1607 he lays the foundation of the Ambrosian Library, inaugurated in 1609, for promoting the humanist values.
The cardinal presents to his new library the Canestra di frutta painted by Caravaggio. This undated painting is a very rare example for its time of a still life without figure, probably designed by the artist as a modello for some details in his vanity scenes.
On July 8, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.56M including premium a still life of fruit monogrammed FG, 31 x 43 cm oil on panel dated 1607. It is the only known still life that has been dated by Fede Galizia. Four replicas are listed.
The composition is simple and effective, with peaches in a crystal stemmed basket and quinces on the table top. One of the quinces is sliced. Much better than flowers, this theme allows the study of the texture and also of the light that is reflected on the skin of a quince.
The Milanese influence is indisputable but the still lifes by Fede Galizia express her tendency to an extreme realism, unrelated to vanities. It is possible that she chose this unprecedented theme to escape the competition that should occur with male artists on more classical subjects. She opens the way to Clara Peeters and Louyse Moillon. Apart from her clients, she receives little attention and the rest of her work is not datable. She died unmarried in 1630.
On February 1 in New York, Sotheby's sells a pair of oils on panels 27 x 39 cm each, lot 20 estimated $ 2M. The composition is broadly similar to the example above, with on each picture the fruits in a porcelain basket and on a stone ledge. The greater variety of fruit dominated by opulent clusters of grapes and the introduction of a wasp demonstrate that this pair is an evolution from the seminal modello dated 1607.
The high quality of these two paintings suggests that they also were modelli, and they were designed by the artist to stay together : an identical pair on canvas in the same dimension dissociated by Sotheby's on December 12, 1984 was certainly a replica.
Federico Borromeo becomes archbishop of Milan in 1595. He is one of the greatest helpers in the history of art, for whom Jan Brueghel the Elder creates in 1606 the theme of the still life of flowers. In 1607 he lays the foundation of the Ambrosian Library, inaugurated in 1609, for promoting the humanist values.
The cardinal presents to his new library the Canestra di frutta painted by Caravaggio. This undated painting is a very rare example for its time of a still life without figure, probably designed by the artist as a modello for some details in his vanity scenes.
On July 8, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.56M including premium a still life of fruit monogrammed FG, 31 x 43 cm oil on panel dated 1607. It is the only known still life that has been dated by Fede Galizia. Four replicas are listed.
The composition is simple and effective, with peaches in a crystal stemmed basket and quinces on the table top. One of the quinces is sliced. Much better than flowers, this theme allows the study of the texture and also of the light that is reflected on the skin of a quince.
The Milanese influence is indisputable but the still lifes by Fede Galizia express her tendency to an extreme realism, unrelated to vanities. It is possible that she chose this unprecedented theme to escape the competition that should occur with male artists on more classical subjects. She opens the way to Clara Peeters and Louyse Moillon. Apart from her clients, she receives little attention and the rest of her work is not datable. She died unmarried in 1630.
On February 1 in New York, Sotheby's sells a pair of oils on panels 27 x 39 cm each, lot 20 estimated $ 2M. The composition is broadly similar to the example above, with on each picture the fruits in a porcelain basket and on a stone ledge. The greater variety of fruit dominated by opulent clusters of grapes and the introduction of a wasp demonstrate that this pair is an evolution from the seminal modello dated 1607.
The high quality of these two paintings suggests that they also were modelli, and they were designed by the artist to stay together : an identical pair on canvas in the same dimension dissociated by Sotheby's on December 12, 1984 was certainly a replica.
1629 Purism in Haarlem
2019 SOLD for $ 2.53M including premium
PRE 2016 SALE DISCUSSION
Once peace has returned, the religious wars give way to highly differentiated sensitivities between Catholics and Protestants. Haarlem becomes the center of an intense Protestant cultural activity animated in the 1620s by Samuel Ampzing.
A tireless pamphleteer, Ampzing is also a theorist promoting purism in poetry in order to avoid using words of foreign origin. Much committed in the artistic life of Haarlem, he knows Hals, orders to Saenredam the topographical illustrations of the city and does not omit to support Claesz and Heda.
A painter of vanities from his beginnings, Pieter Claesz is interested in light. He develops his art around a geometry that must be faultless, with the whole complexity of the more or less intense reflection on glass or pewter along with the refraction through glass and liquid. The reflective surfaces reveal the out of field origin of the light rays.
From 1627 Claesz and Heda innovate simultaneously by a dramatic restriction of the color palette, in a trend that was already tested by landscape painters. Claesz is considered as the pioneer of this style in still life but Ampzing equally acclaims in 1628 both artists of whom it is difficult to identify whether they were friends or competitors.
On July 6 in London, Sotheby's sells a still life of breakfast painted in 1629 by Claesz, oil on panel 45 x 61 cm, lot 15 estimated £ 1.8M. He positioned on the table a big roemer half full of wine, a laid Venice-style glass and several tin plates. The only bright color is the yellow of the lemons. Some green olives complement the composition.
2019 COMMENT
This painting was unsold in 2016.
It was sold for $ 2.53M including premium by Sotheby's in New York on January 30, 2019, over a lower estimate of $ 700K, lot 22.
I did not understand before the 2019 sale that it was the same artwork.
Once peace has returned, the religious wars give way to highly differentiated sensitivities between Catholics and Protestants. Haarlem becomes the center of an intense Protestant cultural activity animated in the 1620s by Samuel Ampzing.
A tireless pamphleteer, Ampzing is also a theorist promoting purism in poetry in order to avoid using words of foreign origin. Much committed in the artistic life of Haarlem, he knows Hals, orders to Saenredam the topographical illustrations of the city and does not omit to support Claesz and Heda.
A painter of vanities from his beginnings, Pieter Claesz is interested in light. He develops his art around a geometry that must be faultless, with the whole complexity of the more or less intense reflection on glass or pewter along with the refraction through glass and liquid. The reflective surfaces reveal the out of field origin of the light rays.
From 1627 Claesz and Heda innovate simultaneously by a dramatic restriction of the color palette, in a trend that was already tested by landscape painters. Claesz is considered as the pioneer of this style in still life but Ampzing equally acclaims in 1628 both artists of whom it is difficult to identify whether they were friends or competitors.
On July 6 in London, Sotheby's sells a still life of breakfast painted in 1629 by Claesz, oil on panel 45 x 61 cm, lot 15 estimated £ 1.8M. He positioned on the table a big roemer half full of wine, a laid Venice-style glass and several tin plates. The only bright color is the yellow of the lemons. Some green olives complement the composition.
2019 COMMENT
This painting was unsold in 2016.
It was sold for $ 2.53M including premium by Sotheby's in New York on January 30, 2019, over a lower estimate of $ 700K, lot 22.
I did not understand before the 2019 sale that it was the same artwork.
#AuctionUpdate: Two bidders battle for Pieter Claesz's 'Still Life of Lemons and Olives,' bringing the total to $2.5 million - a new record for the artist at auction pic.twitter.com/aoUmfjafZb
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 30, 2019
1633 Breakfasts by Heda
2015 SOLD for £ 2.95M including premium
Willem Claesz Heda wanted that his paintings closely resemble the real objects. He succeeded in his goal by an extreme care in the textures and a detailed study of the reflections of light.
For four decades, he worked a single theme: the still life of foods and utensils for breakfast on a tablecloth covering almost the entire table. This choice was perhaps inspired by his early training as a painter of vanities. The fruit is ephemeral and the utensil is permanent.
In the 1630s, his composition is rigorous, in a great simplicity which certainly inspired the minimalism of Coorte half a century later. The foods are strictly included within the perimeter lines of the table top. Only the higher part of the utensils and the hanging lemon peel are beyond this zone.
On July 8 in London, Sotheby's sells an oil on panel 59 x 80 cm painted in 1633, lot 12 estimated £ 2M.
This artwork is a good example of Heda's improved realism through a subtle treatment of light. The contrasted areas in the background indicate where daylight comes from. The surrounding that escapes direct vision is however visible in the multiple reflections of a single window, in glasses, silverware and olives but not in pewter.
Subsequent compositions with a crumpled tablecloth and an increased quantity of objects are more complex. The artist desired to demonstrate that his control of geometry could be applied not only to order but also to disorder. An oil on panel 81 x 102 cm painted in 1644 was sold for £ 4.8 million including premium by Christie's on July 8, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 1.5M.
For four decades, he worked a single theme: the still life of foods and utensils for breakfast on a tablecloth covering almost the entire table. This choice was perhaps inspired by his early training as a painter of vanities. The fruit is ephemeral and the utensil is permanent.
In the 1630s, his composition is rigorous, in a great simplicity which certainly inspired the minimalism of Coorte half a century later. The foods are strictly included within the perimeter lines of the table top. Only the higher part of the utensils and the hanging lemon peel are beyond this zone.
On July 8 in London, Sotheby's sells an oil on panel 59 x 80 cm painted in 1633, lot 12 estimated £ 2M.
This artwork is a good example of Heda's improved realism through a subtle treatment of light. The contrasted areas in the background indicate where daylight comes from. The surrounding that escapes direct vision is however visible in the multiple reflections of a single window, in glasses, silverware and olives but not in pewter.
Subsequent compositions with a crumpled tablecloth and an increased quantity of objects are more complex. The artist desired to demonstrate that his control of geometry could be applied not only to order but also to disorder. An oil on panel 81 x 102 cm painted in 1644 was sold for £ 4.8 million including premium by Christie's on July 8, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 1.5M.
Still-lifes by Heda are among the greatest achievements of the Dutch C17th. This exquisite example fetches £2.9m pic.twitter.com/ZcjIclHoHb
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 8, 2015
1695 A Butterfly in the Still Life of Adriaen Coorte
2014 SOLD for £ 3.45M including premium
Adriaen Coorte has no biography. Fortunately he signed or monogramed his artworks, and some of them were dated from 1683 to 1705. 64 paintings are identified, and no drawing. Unknown to his contemporaries, he is referred only once, in 1695-1696, in Middelburg when the local league of St Luke fines him for an unauthorized sale.
The still lifes by Coorte have neither predecessor nor successor. Most of them show an arrangement of fruit or asparagus on the corner of a stone ledge. From the mid 1690s, his very unusual practice of oil on paper glued on canvas or panel reinforces the assumption that the author is not a professional artist.
The butterfly appears in the same period. In flight, its wings fully open or closed do not bring realism in the composition, following the lush positioning of small animals in the art of van Kessel.
In contrast to the exuberance of van Kessel, Coorte is a minimalist. The careful texture of the fruit with stems and leaves is the unique theme of the composition, but he likes the vertical formats and the butterfly comes to cleverly break the monotony of the upper part of the picture.
Such a decorative research based on a humble iconography anticipates Chardin's researches while no link can be imagined between the Middelburg amateur and the French artist of the following century.
A paper on panel 31 x 23 cm, undated but realized around 1695, showing three peaches and a butterfly, was sold for £ 2.05M including premium by Bonhams on 7 December 2011. This painting is now estimated £ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on December 3, lot 37. The image is shared by Wikimedia:
The still lifes by Coorte have neither predecessor nor successor. Most of them show an arrangement of fruit or asparagus on the corner of a stone ledge. From the mid 1690s, his very unusual practice of oil on paper glued on canvas or panel reinforces the assumption that the author is not a professional artist.
The butterfly appears in the same period. In flight, its wings fully open or closed do not bring realism in the composition, following the lush positioning of small animals in the art of van Kessel.
In contrast to the exuberance of van Kessel, Coorte is a minimalist. The careful texture of the fruit with stems and leaves is the unique theme of the composition, but he likes the vertical formats and the butterfly comes to cleverly break the monotony of the upper part of the picture.
Such a decorative research based on a humble iconography anticipates Chardin's researches while no link can be imagined between the Middelburg amateur and the French artist of the following century.
A paper on panel 31 x 23 cm, undated but realized around 1695, showing three peaches and a butterfly, was sold for £ 2.05M including premium by Bonhams on 7 December 2011. This painting is now estimated £ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on December 3, lot 37. The image is shared by Wikimedia:
