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Lot Essay
Albrecht Kauw was born in Strasbourg but settled in Berne after about 1640, where he seems to have spent the rest of his life. His oeuvre consists chiefly of portraits, landscapes and topographical views, some of which were executed as decorative schemes for civic buildings and châteaux in and around Berne. It is perhaps his still lifes, such as the present, hitherto unpublished picture, that formed the most important and idiosyncratic part of his output. This picture is characteristic of the way Kauw would frequently divide his composition into two tiers, here displaying a plenitude of fish, all rendered in life-size detail; he then counterbalanced this effect by introducing the young servant girl who stands juxtaposed at the far edge of the composition holding a wooden pail of water and looking out towards the viewer, providing the scene with a sense of movement and scale.
Georges Herzog in his catalogue raisonné of the artist's work (Albrecht Kauw, Berne, 1999, pp. 214-46, nos. 117-35) illustrates twenty still lifes, of which fifteen are signed with dates ranging from 1649-1678. The present picture relates most closely to the Still life with a falcon and dead birds of 1660-5, measuring 125 x 184 cm., in the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva (inv. no. CR. 0375; see G. Herzog, op. cit., pp. 236-7, no. 130); indeed it is likely that this picture would originally have been painted with a pendant, depicting either birds (air), or fruit and vegetables (earth), to balance the fish (water) of this composition. Another similar but more elaborate composition, Still life of a young woman sitting with a vase of flowers next to a table laden with fruit, vegetables and nuts, was sold, Sotheby's, London, 10 July, 2002, lot 22.
Georges Herzog in his catalogue raisonné of the artist's work (Albrecht Kauw, Berne, 1999, pp. 214-46, nos. 117-35) illustrates twenty still lifes, of which fifteen are signed with dates ranging from 1649-1678. The present picture relates most closely to the Still life with a falcon and dead birds of 1660-5, measuring 125 x 184 cm., in the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva (inv. no. CR. 0375; see G. Herzog, op. cit., pp. 236-7, no. 130); indeed it is likely that this picture would originally have been painted with a pendant, depicting either birds (air), or fruit and vegetables (earth), to balance the fish (water) of this composition. Another similar but more elaborate composition, Still life of a young woman sitting with a vase of flowers next to a table laden with fruit, vegetables and nuts, was sold, Sotheby's, London, 10 July, 2002, lot 22.