Jan Davidsz. De Heem Utrecht 1606 - 1683/4 Antwerp

Possibly Nicolaes van Suchtelen, burgomaster, Hoorn;
His sale, Hoorn, 17 April 1715, lot 1;
Sir William Eden, Bt. (died 1873);
Thence by descent to Sir John Eden, Bt.;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 10 July 1974, lot 61, for £26,000, when bought by the present owner.

E. Greindl, Les Peintures Flamands de Nature Morte au XVII^e Siècle, Brussels 1983, p. 361, no. 93;
S. Segal, Jan Davidsz. de Heem und sein Kreis, exhibition catalogue, Utrecht-Braunschweig 1991, p. 168, reproduced fig. 23b;
A. van der Willigen & F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Painters Working in Oils 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 106. 

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a strong lining that is not very recent and a firm old stretcher. There is one small careful patch behind, at upper right where the stalk of an ivy leaf had a small knock, which is now evenly reintegrated into the surface and has a small retouching. Two other places appear to have been moistened behind to consolidate a little flake in the white smowball flower at upper left with the other just below the stalk of the smaller red rose nearby. The dark yellow poppy at lower centre left has one small retouching and the stamens are slightly thin, but this is a colour that is sometimes fugitive and difficult. The little yellow stellar flowers near the white snowball flower are also a little thin as is one small leaf just above the upper central red rose, and there is an emerging pentiment by the cluster of orange pomegranate/quince? fruits at centre right, but otherwise there seems to be scarcely any wear at all. The extraordinarily good condition is remarkable even for such a characteristically virtuoso technician. Clearly there has been minimal restoration, and a stable early history. Even the usually vulnerable deep madder glazing in the inner petals of the roses has remained strong, and the miraculously clear detail of the insects, the caterpillar, the thorny stems of the roses, veined leaves and cross-reflections on each surface are preserved intact virtually throughout. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"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."

This is De Heem's only known dated painting after the mid-1650s, and is therefore a key work in establishing his later chronology.

It is a likely candidate for the picture described as lot 1 in the Nicolaes van Suchtelen sale catalogue in 1715 (see Provenance) thus: 'Een Capitael Stuk, verbeeldende een Festoen met Fruyten en Bloemen, by uytnementheyd fraei geschildert door d'oude de Heem. 500 -0' ('A capital piece, showing a festoon of fruits and flowers, particularly beautifully painted by the old de Heem, 500 guilders').  Lot 2 in the sale was a similar painting by Jacob Rootius, painted as a pendant to the De Heem: 'Een Festoen Bloemen en Vrugten, tot wederga van dat van d'Heem door J. Rotius' (`A festoon of flowers and fruit, as a pendant to that by d'Heem by J. Rotius'). It fetched 50 guilders, one-tenth of the price of the De Heem.  As Fred Meijer has observed, a painting by Rootius of 1676 that was sold in these Rooms, 6 December 1972, lot 98, might be identified with the Van Suchtelen pendant (see fig. 1).¹

An accurate unsigned copy of similar dimensions was sold, London, Sotheby's, 22 May 1963, lot 10.

We are most grateful to Fred G. Meijer for his help in cataloguing this lot.  Drs. Meijer will include it in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of De Heem's paintings.

1.  Oil on canvas, 57.8 by 73.7 cm (so somewhat smaller than the present picture, but perhaps cropped somewhat to the right), signed and dated 1676.