(Amsterdam 1687/89 – circa 1740 London)
Mixed flowers in a sculpted vase with fruit and a bird’s nest on a ledge,
bears signature lower left: Jan Van Huysum / fecit,
oil on canvas, 99 x 74 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Christie’s, London, 7 July 1995, lot 205

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for endorsing the attribution of the present painting to Jacob van Huysum. He dates the painting to circa 1710.

The present refined still life, showing a multiplicity of exotic and native blooms, offset by a bird‘s nest bearing blue eggs and sumptuous fruit upon a marble ledge is a testament to the skill of Jacob van Huysum. Trained in the family workshop in Amsterdam, van Huysum was the member of a dynasty of celebrated still life painters, the fourth son of his father Justus, and younger brother of Jan. A mixture of wildly Baroque compositional tendencies coupled with meticulous detail characterise both brothers‘ works. Jacob is notable for taking the van Huysum style to England, where, as well as working in his brother‘s manner, he acquired a reputation as an imitator of the great masters. Houghton Hall, Norfolk, contains a number of van Huysum‘s Italianate compositions, mostly unsigned, after artists such as Michele Pace del Campidoglio. Indeed, in the present composition, the relief of the putto upon the urn bearing the flowers illustrates his familiarity with the art of Rome.