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拍品专文
Jan Davidsz. de Heem was arguably the leading still life painter active in the Lowlands in the second half of the seventeenth century. The artist led a peripatetic career, exemplifying the tendency of seventeenth-century artists to move between the Northern and Southern Netherlands, even as the region splintered due to the Dutch revolt against Spain. Through his frequent relocations, de Heem gained exposure to a rich variety of still life imagery that informed his dazzling, innovative paintings celebrated for their dynamism and finely rendered naturalistic details.
The present painting can be dated with near certitude to 1650, a period which Dr. Fred G. Meijer has described as one that ‘ranks among the most productive and most successful in terms of quality of Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s entire career’ (op. cit., p. 160). Three paintings by de Heem dated 1650 are known, including a nearly identical composition in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh (fig. 1). Meijer has recently convincingly argued that the painting in Edinburgh is, in all probability, a second version of this painting. Though the arrangement of the fruit, crayfish, table and tablecloth are identical in both paintings, there are significant differences, most notably in the handling of the foliage in the two works. The smooth handling of the leaves in this painting is quite close to de Heem’s approach to foliage in the 1640s, including a similar composition datable to 1649 (see Meijer, op. cit., no. A 122), while the ‘crisp, “bubbly” type’ found in the Edinburgh painting is typical of de Heem’s work in the first half of the 1650s (op. cit., p. 161).
The success of the present composition is confirmed not only by the two autograph versions but the existence of further examples by or attributed to artists in his circle. A painting by de Heem’s follower and possible pupil, Joris van Son, depicting the foliage as it appears in the present painting is in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no. NM 635). A further example after the Edinburgh painting signed with the initials ‘C.D.H.’ and dated ‘1690’ was sold Christie’s, Amsterdam, 18 November 1993, lot 123.
The present painting can be dated with near certitude to 1650, a period which Dr. Fred G. Meijer has described as one that ‘ranks among the most productive and most successful in terms of quality of Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s entire career’ (op. cit., p. 160). Three paintings by de Heem dated 1650 are known, including a nearly identical composition in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh (fig. 1). Meijer has recently convincingly argued that the painting in Edinburgh is, in all probability, a second version of this painting. Though the arrangement of the fruit, crayfish, table and tablecloth are identical in both paintings, there are significant differences, most notably in the handling of the foliage in the two works. The smooth handling of the leaves in this painting is quite close to de Heem’s approach to foliage in the 1640s, including a similar composition datable to 1649 (see Meijer, op. cit., no. A 122), while the ‘crisp, “bubbly” type’ found in the Edinburgh painting is typical of de Heem’s work in the first half of the 1650s (op. cit., p. 161).
The success of the present composition is confirmed not only by the two autograph versions but the existence of further examples by or attributed to artists in his circle. A painting by de Heem’s follower and possible pupil, Joris van Son, depicting the foliage as it appears in the present painting is in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no. NM 635). A further example after the Edinburgh painting signed with the initials ‘C.D.H.’ and dated ‘1690’ was sold Christie’s, Amsterdam, 18 November 1993, lot 123.