Hieronymus Galle the Elder

With Galerie Jacobs, Brussels (as Jean Baptiste Monnoyer);
From whom acquired by the father of the present owner in 1950.

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 painting has an old glue lining which, although mostly stabilizing the paint layer, has released the cracking somewhat and a fresh lining will improve the surface. The paint layer has been unevenly cleaned and will benefit from further cleaning. Under ultraviolet light a few retouches are visible in one of the red flowers in the center and in the lower right. There is a series of restorations in the lower left, most likely due to paint loss or structural damages and some retouches running along the bottom beneath the tabletop. There are some broken glazes here and there, so some restoration will need to be carried out, but not of a worrying degree. There are most likely other restorations here and there, yet we are not unimpressed with the condition. In pictures like this, very often the background is weak, yet this does not appear to have occurred in this case. The condition of this painting is quite respectable.
"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."

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, for identifying this painting to be a work by Hieronymous Galle, based on photographs.  He dates it as a late work to circa 1670.

Galle was a versatile still life painter of flowers, fruit, game pieces and, in one known instance, a vanitas (dated 1653 and recorded in the Chanenko collection, Kiev, before 1917).  Galle was born in Antwerp and was accepted in the local guild as a master in 1645.  He was in Rome from 1661-62 and last recorded in Antwerp in 1679.