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Lot Essay
Daniel Seghers was born in Antwerp but, following his father’s death, moved with his mother to Utrecht around 1601. There, he converted to Calvinism and undertook his early artistic training. He returned to Antwerp in 1609 or 1610, where he completed his studies with Jan Breughel I (1568-1625). The following year he was accepted as an independent master in the city’s painters guild. Around that time, he must have renounced his Calvinist faith, for he was admitted to the Jesuit Order in 1614. Upon taking his final vows in 1625, he was sent to Rome and resided there until he returned to Antwerp in 1627, where he spent the remainder of his life.
The majority of Seghers’s extant pictures are garland paintings surrounding religious images executed in collaboration with other artists, but floral bouquets arranged in a glass vase like the present picture constitute a high point in his oeuvre and were especially prized by contemporary collectors. Documentary evidence suggests that similar works were acquired by, among others, Scipione Borghese (1577-1633), patron of Caravaggio and Bernini; the Dutch stadholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) and his court; and the Antwerp collector and patron of Anthony van Dyck, Cornelis van der Geest (1575-1638; see W. Couvreur, “Daniël Seghers’ inventaris van door hem geschilderde bloemstukken,” Gentse bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis en de oudheidkunde, XX, 1967, pp. 95, 104, 107, 119, nos. 15, 88, 93, 104, 190). They were also the subject of several laudatory poems by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) and the Dutch polymath Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), the latter of whom opined that the painted flowers appeared so lifelike that he could almost smell them. Nor has interest waned in modern times. Seghers’s floral bouquets have been described as “among the most serenely beautiful things in the history of flower painting” (P. Mitchell, European Flower Painters, London, 1973, p. 234) and “la part la plus belle de son œuvre” (M.-L. Hairs, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Brussels, 1985, p. 134).
Seghers often executed his floral bouquets on a copper support, as in the present painting, in order to enhance the painting’s jewel-like quality. Distinguished by an uncompromising interest in textural nuance as well as a refined sense of color that employs delicate half tones, these pictures have a tactile, almost sculptural appeal. The compositional simplicity and understated brilliance recalls the works of artists like Ambrosius Bosschaert I (1573-1621), whose paintings Seghers must have encountered during his early training in the Northern Netherlands. Though the precise period in which Seghers produced his flower bouquets is difficult to establish owing to the lack of a clear stylistic development in his works, they are generally regarded as products of his early maturity.
The flowers that appear in this painting—tulips, roses, peonies, and narcissi—bloom at different times of year, suggesting that Seghers could not have painted such a bouquet directly from life. Whether or not he intended any symbolic significance in these works is open to debate. The presence of flowers in various states of bloom combined with the inclusion of the short-lived butterfly—a Pieris rapae, or small white—at lower left suggests that some viewers might have interpreted these elements as a commentary on the frailty of human existence. Others may have simply relished the unparalleled artistry of the man known universally as ‘Pater Seghers’, a point that the artist was evidently keen to emphasize through the bold signature and accompanying inscription Soc[ieta]tis. JESV. at lower right.
The majority of Seghers’s extant pictures are garland paintings surrounding religious images executed in collaboration with other artists, but floral bouquets arranged in a glass vase like the present picture constitute a high point in his oeuvre and were especially prized by contemporary collectors. Documentary evidence suggests that similar works were acquired by, among others, Scipione Borghese (1577-1633), patron of Caravaggio and Bernini; the Dutch stadholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) and his court; and the Antwerp collector and patron of Anthony van Dyck, Cornelis van der Geest (1575-1638; see W. Couvreur, “Daniël Seghers’ inventaris van door hem geschilderde bloemstukken,” Gentse bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis en de oudheidkunde, XX, 1967, pp. 95, 104, 107, 119, nos. 15, 88, 93, 104, 190). They were also the subject of several laudatory poems by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) and the Dutch polymath Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), the latter of whom opined that the painted flowers appeared so lifelike that he could almost smell them. Nor has interest waned in modern times. Seghers’s floral bouquets have been described as “among the most serenely beautiful things in the history of flower painting” (P. Mitchell, European Flower Painters, London, 1973, p. 234) and “la part la plus belle de son œuvre” (M.-L. Hairs, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Brussels, 1985, p. 134).
Seghers often executed his floral bouquets on a copper support, as in the present painting, in order to enhance the painting’s jewel-like quality. Distinguished by an uncompromising interest in textural nuance as well as a refined sense of color that employs delicate half tones, these pictures have a tactile, almost sculptural appeal. The compositional simplicity and understated brilliance recalls the works of artists like Ambrosius Bosschaert I (1573-1621), whose paintings Seghers must have encountered during his early training in the Northern Netherlands. Though the precise period in which Seghers produced his flower bouquets is difficult to establish owing to the lack of a clear stylistic development in his works, they are generally regarded as products of his early maturity.
The flowers that appear in this painting—tulips, roses, peonies, and narcissi—bloom at different times of year, suggesting that Seghers could not have painted such a bouquet directly from life. Whether or not he intended any symbolic significance in these works is open to debate. The presence of flowers in various states of bloom combined with the inclusion of the short-lived butterfly—a Pieris rapae, or small white—at lower left suggests that some viewers might have interpreted these elements as a commentary on the frailty of human existence. Others may have simply relished the unparalleled artistry of the man known universally as ‘Pater Seghers’, a point that the artist was evidently keen to emphasize through the bold signature and accompanying inscription Soc[ieta]tis. JESV. at lower right.