Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Elder Antwerp 1635 - 1681

Verbruggen lived most of his life in Antwerp, with the exception of a stay in the Hague between 1706-1723.  He was a Master in the Antwerp Guild by 1677; in 1708 he was named to the Academy in the Hague.  He specialized in still life painting, a family speciality begun by his father, in whose studio he first trained.  The present work's profusion of elegant flowers is typical of the artist.  The painting is remarkable, however, not only for its exceptionally elaborate display, but also for the carefully designed niche within which the flowers sit.  Verbruggen mainly painted garlands of flowers and there are only a few still lifes of flowers in vases painted by him.  He usually signed in full, often in capitals, but occasionally employed a monogram such as the one in the present painting.

In a private communication to the present owner, Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague confirmed this painting to be a work by Verbruggen the Elder and suggested a date in the first half of the 1660's.