Clara Peeters

Private collection, Europe;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, 9 May 2001, lot 97, for Fl. 455,000.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The thick copper panel is in good condition with only a minor damage to the lower right corner. There has been delamination to the paint layer and this is most evident along the edge of the ledge where the restoration has been extensive; the signature, fortunately, is unaffected. The paint layer to the ledge surface is compromised and thin and extensively retouched, similarly the background which has minor losses and thinned paint. The paint of the dark area of the tazza base has been augmented some of the fruit( the two peaches, the side of the apple and the pear on the tazza) has been strengthened. Some of the original glazing has been compromised. The varnish is moderately discoloured."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Hitherto unpublished, this still life was unknown to Prof. Pamela Hibbs-Decoteau when she published her monograph on Clara Peeters in 1992. It is a highly important addition to Peeters' oeuvre and is an unusual composition for the artist in that she has chosen to depict only fruit, without flowers, fish or other food.

Clara Peeters was born in or near Antwerp but very little is known about her life due to a scarcity of documentary evidence. At least three of her paintings, including this work, bear the mark of the city of Antwerp on the reverse of the support; however, surprisingly her name does not feature in the records of the Antwerp guild, which had already started to admit women by 1602.

The reading of the date as 1611 is corroborated by the form of Peeter Stas' mark on the reverse of this plate which was in use between 1606 and 1609¹. As copper plates were a relatively costly support, it is unlikely that the copper would have been left unused for many years after Stas produced it. Peeters also used a copper support for her still life now in Oxford, Ashmoleum Museum² where a similar tazza with fruit is visible on the right hand side. Several of the details in these two paintings are rendered in a similar manner, in particular the walnut and the vine leaves.

1. see J. Wadum, "Antwerp Copper Plates", in Copper as canvas, exhibition catalogue, Phoenix, Kansas, The Hague, 1998, pp. 109-10;
2. see P. Hibbs-Decoteau, Clara Peeters, Cologne 1992, p. 123, reproduced fig. 20, plate VII.