(Maastricht circa 1633 - after 1694 Berlin)
A still life with flowers in a silver vase and a folded rug,
indistinctly signed lower centre,
oil on canvas, 91.5 x 70.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Eugene Slatter Gallery, London (1954, as Willem van Aelst);
sale, Christie’s, London, 11th December 1992, lot 72 (“The Property of a Lady”, as Ernst Stuven)

Exhibited:
Henri de Fromantiou, Vorstelijke Illusies, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, March–June 2015

Literature:
C. Grimm, Stillleben, Die niederländischen und deutschen Bilder, Stuttgart & Zurich 1988, p. 174, colour ill. (as Willem van Aelst);
Vorstelijke Illusies, exhibition catalogue, Maastricht 2015, p. 84, p. 101, cat. no. 15, p. 101, ill. p. 81

In terms of composition and manner of painting, the flower still lifes by the Brandenburg court painter Fromantiou resemble the floral bouquets of Willem van Aelst. This explains why the present painting used to be attributed to Van Aelst and was published as a work by his hand. The painting features motifs Willem van Aelst employed in his still lifes of flowers at the Mauritshuis, The Hague. An earlier attribution of the present painting to Ernst Stuven is not too farfetched either, as the latter harked back to Willem van Aelst for his own still lifes. The picture is registered in the RKD database under number 49087 (as Fromantiou).