Jacob van Hulsdonck

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 27 May 2004, lot 26 (reproduced on the cover);
There purchased by the present owner.

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 is in lovely condition. It is painted on two sections of oak joined horizontally through the middle of the composition. There are five reinforcements on the reverse reinforcing this join. Despite a varnish which does not allow for the ultraviolet light to penetrate, the paint layer does appear to be in almost perfect condition. There are a few tiny spots of restoration running along the original join in the panel and there may be a few spots in the background and around the carnation and the half peach on the left side on the table. Other than this there appear to be no restorations of note, as far as can be detected. The painting generally is in beautiful state.
"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."

Jacob van Hulsdonck was born in Antwerp but was taken by his parents at an early age to Middelburg where he was to remain for some time before returning to the city of his birth. Details of his artisitic training are unknown. In Middelburg he is likely to have come into contact with Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, who was the dominant artistic personality in the city from the mid 1590s, but Hulsdonck's presumed early works have few stylistic parallels with those of Bosschaert and he is unlikely to have been his pupil. Closer affinities can be found with the works of Osias Beert the Elder, one of the leading still life painters in Antwerp in the early 17th century, suggesting that Hulsdonck may have worked in his circle before becoming a Master in the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp in 1608. Here he established a successful workshop specialising in the depiction of fruit in bowls or baskets, set upon wooden table-tops. According to Van der Willigen and Meijer (A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p.114) between 35 and 40 signed examples of such works are known, with five including small vases of flowers. To these can be added the present work, a recent addition to the artist's oeuvre (see provenance), and a painting which must rank as one of Hulsdonck's most successful compositions.

The present picture is unusual in being painted on a panel that has been prepared on both sides, providing extra stability to the support. Such panels were more expensive to produce and seem to have been reserved for more important works. A similarly prepared panel provides the support for a still life by Osias Beert the Elder, sold London Sotheby's, 6 July 1994, lot 17, and now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.