Jacob van Hulsdonck

Private collection, Versailles, France;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Loiseau & Laufaury Scp., March 31, 1996, lot 6.

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 still life is in beautiful condition. The panel has received a cradle on the reverse. The surface is stable. No marks suggesting joins in the panel can be discerned even though presumably there is a join somewhere that is unbroken. The paint layer is slightly dirty or the varnish is a bit dull, but the condition is impressive nonetheless and the picture could be hung as is. Under ultraviolet light the retouches are very hard to detect. There are a couple of spots in the upper background between the leaves of the grapevines. In the tabletop few if any restorations have been added. Despite the opaque varnish it is clear that the lower right corner has received a little restoration, but the still life itself seems to be almost completely free of retouches and is in marvelous condition.
"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 beautifully preserved still life, exquisite in its detail, was probably painted by Hulsdonck in the 1620s and must surely count as one of his grandest and most successful paintings. Here, Hulsdonck gives the composition unusual freedom with the omission of any peripheral objects, such as vases of flowers, that often clutter similar works. The details are minutely rendered and the interelation of colours, tones and objects is brilliantly observed.

Though born in Antwerp, Hulsdonck appears to have passed his youth in Middleburg, where the community of exiled Flemish protestants fleeing the Spanish Terror after 1585 included many artists and their patrons. Middleburg thus became a melting pot of artistic talent and Hulsdonck certainly knew Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder there, an older painter who was to have a marked influence on the young Hulsdonck. As time progressed Hulsdonck returned to Antwerp in 1608 and his style here was fashioned to a great degree on that of Osias Beert who had enrolled in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1608. Hulsdonck established a successful workshop specializing in the depiction of fruit in bowls or baskets placed on a wooden tabletop. Between 35 and 40 such works are known, although only one of which is dated.¹

1. A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still life Painters Working in Oils, Leiden 2003, p. 114.