Jan Jansz. van de Velde

Private collection, Germany;
Anonymous sale, Bremen, Bolland & Marotz, December 6, 2003, lot 498. 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This beautiful picture is very well preserved. The panel is a single piece of oak which is very well preserved and unreinforced. One of the rosehips in the lower right has been painted over by the artist and is a legitimate pentimenti however, there are restorations here also which address a pentimenti situated between the three central rosehips in this area. There are some restorations addressing graininess to the panel in the background and a few other small retouches here and there. Overall however this picture is in lovely state and if the varnish were to be freshened, it could be hung as is.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This exquisite small panel by the rare Haarlem still life painter Jan Jansz. van de Velde embodies everything for which the artist is best known. Van de Velde's still lifes are, as a rule, very spare, depicting only a limited number of scattered objects on a tabletop or ledge. With extraordinary restraint Van de Velde focuses here on just a few elements, leaving the upper two-thirds of the panel empty. The palpability of the objects and their crisp execution heightens the sense of realism which is so distinct that not even the impossibly balanced branch of medlars can lessen it, as it sits on the tabletop with all its weight hanging over the edge.  Compared to the elaborate banketje still lifes of overturned tazze, nautilus cups and the like produced by many of his townsmen, such as Willem Claesz. Heda, Van de Velde's still life is intimate, personal, and yet just as sophisticated.  

Van de Velde's oeuvre occupies an independent position in the history of Dutch seventeenth-century still life painting. His style seems modelled on the most intimate works of Pieter Claesz., whom he would have known in Haarlem. He was a member of an important family of Dutch artists, his cousin being the marine painter Willem van de Velde. He married in 1643 in Amsterdam and died in 1662 or 1664, leaving behind him a corpus of only forty or so paintings.