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拍品專文
Celebrated as the one of the greatest pioneers of flower still life painting in the Netherlands, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder established a dynasty of painters, training his brother-in-law, Balthasar van der Ast, and three sons, Ambrosius the Younger, Johannes and Abraham in the genre. The son of a painter himself, Bosschaert likely began his training under his father in Antwerp, painting exotic fruits and flowers. In 1585, however, Spanish forces regained power in Antwerp and expelled those who refused to practice the Catholicism. Bosschaert and his family were forced to leave, along with many other Protestants fleeing religious persecution, and settled instead in Middelburg in Zeeland around 1587.
During this period, Middelburg boasted some of the most comprehensive collections of flora in Holland and in the last decades of the sixteenth century the city emerged as a leading center for the field of botany and the scientific study of plants. Its botanical gardens housed rare species imported from the Near and Far East and from the Americas. The increasing competition and desire for these flowers resulted in the popularly termed ‘Tulip mania’, which swept the Netherlands during the 1620s and ‘30s. This period saw the fervent production and sale of different varieties of tulips commanding soaring prices. In 1624, bulbs could sell for as much as 2,000 or 3,000 guilders, the equivalent of a wealthy merchant’s average annual earnings. For collectors, Bosschaert’s paintings were effectively portraits of these rare and valuable commodities. He rendered them in meticulous detail, adding insects to bring them to life and his works became immensely sought after during his lifetime. He immortalized the fleeting blooms in paint and often composed impossible arrangements, combining plants that in reality would never bloom at the same time.
In this still life, dating to around 1619-20, Bosschaert carefully arranged a sculptural bouquet in a centrally placed Kraak porcelain vase. He anchored the composition with two variegated tulips and beneath these included smaller blooms, a pink carnation, African marigolds, an anemone and two white roses, interspersed with sprays of forget-me-nots, Spanish hyacinth and lily of the valley. The vase and floral arrangement are silhouetted against a dark background, allowing the viewer to focus on the vibrant blooms. A butterfly rests on a leaf at left, its closed wings mimicking the flair of pink cyclamen beside it, and a dragonfly perches on the petals of a white rose at right, enlivening the composition. On the stone ledge, a tri-colored pansy adds color to the area otherwise cast in shadow by the vase and three exotic shells are artfully positioned at left, two of them upturned, exposing the glossy, white surface within.
As Sam Segal noted, Balthasar van der Ast appears to have closely followed this composition by Bosschaert in an early, signed still life, last recorded with Galerie De Jonckheere, Brussels and Paris in 1994 (fig. 1; S. Segal, op. cit. p. 53, fig. 20). Van der Ast’s painting dates to around 1622 and was likely completed while the artist was still working in Bosschaert’s workshop. While van der Ast’s composition is very similar, it is not identical. He included the same gold edged vase, with a floral design and bird at rest, and retained many of the blooms but substituted the forget-me-nots for periwinkle. On the stone ledge, he omitted the tri-colored pansy, replacing it with a solitary fly, and shifted the black and white striped shell right of center, toward the now vacant area. Van der Ast also opted against the butterfly and dragonfly, including instead a caterpillar climbing up the thick stem of the tulip and a tiny insect crawling across the white rose.
A NOTE ON THE PROVENANCE:
Henri Heugel was the heir to the music publishing firm, Èditions Heugel, established in 1839 by his father, Jacques-Léopold. Henri vigorously expanded the holdings of the company, buying the rights to new titles and ensuring that the house became a leader in opera publishing. He amassed a collection of over 170 pictures and equally splendid works of sculpture and furniture. He was friendly with the industrialist and fellow collector Henry Clay Frick, who offered Heugel a healthy sum to buy his collection in 1912; Heugel declined the offer.
During this period, Middelburg boasted some of the most comprehensive collections of flora in Holland and in the last decades of the sixteenth century the city emerged as a leading center for the field of botany and the scientific study of plants. Its botanical gardens housed rare species imported from the Near and Far East and from the Americas. The increasing competition and desire for these flowers resulted in the popularly termed ‘Tulip mania’, which swept the Netherlands during the 1620s and ‘30s. This period saw the fervent production and sale of different varieties of tulips commanding soaring prices. In 1624, bulbs could sell for as much as 2,000 or 3,000 guilders, the equivalent of a wealthy merchant’s average annual earnings. For collectors, Bosschaert’s paintings were effectively portraits of these rare and valuable commodities. He rendered them in meticulous detail, adding insects to bring them to life and his works became immensely sought after during his lifetime. He immortalized the fleeting blooms in paint and often composed impossible arrangements, combining plants that in reality would never bloom at the same time.
In this still life, dating to around 1619-20, Bosschaert carefully arranged a sculptural bouquet in a centrally placed Kraak porcelain vase. He anchored the composition with two variegated tulips and beneath these included smaller blooms, a pink carnation, African marigolds, an anemone and two white roses, interspersed with sprays of forget-me-nots, Spanish hyacinth and lily of the valley. The vase and floral arrangement are silhouetted against a dark background, allowing the viewer to focus on the vibrant blooms. A butterfly rests on a leaf at left, its closed wings mimicking the flair of pink cyclamen beside it, and a dragonfly perches on the petals of a white rose at right, enlivening the composition. On the stone ledge, a tri-colored pansy adds color to the area otherwise cast in shadow by the vase and three exotic shells are artfully positioned at left, two of them upturned, exposing the glossy, white surface within.
As Sam Segal noted, Balthasar van der Ast appears to have closely followed this composition by Bosschaert in an early, signed still life, last recorded with Galerie De Jonckheere, Brussels and Paris in 1994 (fig. 1; S. Segal, op. cit. p. 53, fig. 20). Van der Ast’s painting dates to around 1622 and was likely completed while the artist was still working in Bosschaert’s workshop. While van der Ast’s composition is very similar, it is not identical. He included the same gold edged vase, with a floral design and bird at rest, and retained many of the blooms but substituted the forget-me-nots for periwinkle. On the stone ledge, he omitted the tri-colored pansy, replacing it with a solitary fly, and shifted the black and white striped shell right of center, toward the now vacant area. Van der Ast also opted against the butterfly and dragonfly, including instead a caterpillar climbing up the thick stem of the tulip and a tiny insect crawling across the white rose.
A NOTE ON THE PROVENANCE:
Henri Heugel was the heir to the music publishing firm, Èditions Heugel, established in 1839 by his father, Jacques-Léopold. Henri vigorously expanded the holdings of the company, buying the rights to new titles and ensuring that the house became a leader in opera publishing. He amassed a collection of over 170 pictures and equally splendid works of sculpture and furniture. He was friendly with the industrialist and fellow collector Henry Clay Frick, who offered Heugel a healthy sum to buy his collection in 1912; Heugel declined the offer.