A still life with roses, tulips, anemones and other flowers in an ornamental vase on a pedestal, oil on canvas, 99.2 x 76.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Dr Claudia Salvi, Paris, who was able to identify the painting as the authentic work of Jacob Bogdany. A comprehensive certificate is available.

Jacob Bogdany was a master of the internationally sought-after still lifes produced during the High Baroque. He was known internationally. He was born in Eperjes in Hungary, moving as a talented still life painter to Amsterdam in 1684, where he shared a workshop with his artist colleague, Ernst Stuven, with the result that one may speak of a mutual stylistic influence on one another. During the Glory Revolution, when London was populated by large numbers of Netherlandish artists as a result of the Regency of William III of Orange and his wife, Mary, Bogdany also moved to Great Britain. He arrived in London in 1688 and quickly became known as The Hungarian. It is not clear whether his origins, exotic at the time, lent wings to his career. One of his first large commissions, close stylistically to this painting, was to decorate the Looking glasse closett in the Thames Gallery at Hampton Court Palace with magnificent floral still lifes for Queen Mary. Wilhelm III commissioned him further to decorate his country estate in Dieren in the Netherlands. Another important patron of this artist active in Great Britain, the Netherlands and France was Admiral George Churchill, brother of the first Duke of Marlborough. His collection was acquired by Queen Mary in 1710, with the result that still today there are many works by Bogdany in the Royal Collection.
As can be seen in this painting, Bogdany produced elegantly composed still lifes, which corresponded with international courtly taste, characterised by Netherlandish and French influences.