(active 1655–1664)
A still life with fruit in a basket, bears signature middle left: J.D.De Heem f,
oil on panel, 56 x 67.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galerie Hörhammer, Helsinki (according to a label on the reverse);
Property of a Lady;
Anonymous Sale, Christie’s, New York, 29 January 1999, lot 128 (with confirmation of attribution by Sam Segal) where purchased by the parents of the present owner

Very few works are verified as being by Laurens Craen; in 1984 Segal listed 20 such paintings, of which the majority were signed, but only a small number were dated. According to Segal the earliest painting by this artist dates to 1643, and as yet the latest work is dated 1661 or 1666.
In the Lexikon der Holländischen Stilllebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert by E. Gemar-Koeltzsch (Lingen 1995, p271) it is written about Craen: ‘As a rule Craen’s tonal still lifes arranged on a table portray either a left or right-hand table corner half-covered with cloth, on which rests a pewter plate containing pomegranates or fish and crustaceans. This central motif is often accompanied by a peeled lemon and invariably by grapes, whose vine leaves are reminiscent of the vines in the paintings of Balthasar van der Ast; though it is through this motif that the difference between the master and his follower is most apparent. Craen chose to render his vine leaves larger and integrated them into the main diagonal of the composition. The leaves trail between the light and the shadow, thus working as an intermediary between the foreground and the background. Balthasar van der Ast painted his vine leaves just as if they were silhouettes against the background. For Ast the vine leaves separated the table from the background, a model from which he rarely deviated. In contrast to this very dark backdrop, Craen preferred to portray an illuminated and vertically accentuated projection on a wall or a corner of the room…’

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution.