Floris Hendrik Verster Dutch 1861-1927

Collection J. Maas, Hengelo

Kunsthandel M.L. de Boer, Amsterdam, inv.no. 10814

A. Verwey, 'Breitner, Karsen en Verster´, De Beweging 7 (1911), pp. 284-289

W. Scherjon, Floris Verster, 9 juni 1861 - 21 januari 1927. Volledige geïllustreerde catalogus van zijn schilderijen, waskrijt- en waterverfteekeningen en grafisch werk, Utrecht 1928, p. 78, no. 142, illustrated

J. de Vries, Gemeenschap en Wereld-ik, Geheel op de wijze der kunst. Nederlandse kunstkritiek en moderne kunst circa 1900-1920. Albert Verwey, Albert Plasschaert, Just Havelaar, Theo van Doesburg, thesis University of Amsterdam, 27 November 1990, p. 60

C. Vogelaar, Floris Verster, Leiden 2002, no. 142 on p. 122, illustrated

In an article in the magazine De Beweging the influential Dutch poet and art critic Albert Verwey praised the ability of his friend Floris Verster to discover beauty in the most trivial objects. The present lot, depicting three tin jugs, illustrates this perfectly. Verwey couldn´t help noticing that the three tin jugs were not just some arbitrary objects. In his article he suggests that they represent the philosophies of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, three philosophers who shaped Verwey´s aesthetics.

Notwithstanding the fact that the three jugs opened up a world of unlimited ideas, Verwey also had eyes for the subtle and modest colour schemes the artist used. ´Verster became the dreamer of light, reflected on the surface of things´, thus Vewey writes in De Beweging. He characterised the jugs therefore as ´light-catching objects´.

The tin jugs Verster used for this still life came from his own domestic environment. The artist was very attached to these objects and bequeathed the jugs to the Museum de Lakenhal in Leiden. A painting of the same subject, dated 1904, is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.