A fine still life of flowers in a stone vase sculpted with amorini on a stone ledge including a peony, anemonies, old roses, auriculae, chrysanthemums, daisies, larkspur and acanthus leaves, two goldfinches in a bird's nest

Willem van Leen was born in Dordrecht and went to study in Paris in 1773. He stayed there for three years and became friendly with Corneille van Spanedonck and Piat-Joseph Sauvage. After his return to Rotterdam, he travelled to Paris again in 1787 but left France at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. During his Dutch period, he exclusively painted still lives of flowers and fruit. His miniatures are very rare; one, mounted on the lid of a box, is recorded in the Sypesteyn Foundation in Loosdrecht, and another one, a circular fixé-sous-verre, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. A4111).
The present miniature was inspired by the still life signed by Gerard van Spaendonck in the Louvre (see S. Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981, no. 205, and M. van Bouwen/S. Segal, Gerard & Cornelis van Spaendonck. Twee Brabantse bloemenschilders in Parijs, The Hague, 1988, no. 65, with detailed explanation of the flowers).