Jacob van Hulsdonck

With Noortman & Brod, New York;
From whom acquired in 1981 by the present collector.

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 work is painted on a single piece of oak. The panel is unreinforced and slightly curved from top to bottom. There is a non-original 1 inch horizontal addition along the bottom. The paint layer seems to be clean. Under ultraviolet light, retouches can be seen here and there in the background and in the tabletop, particularly in the shadows of the flowers, fruit and insects. Some losses have been restored in the pink rose on the table beneath the basket. Otherwise, the actual objects in the still life are very well preserved and show very little restoration. It is unlikely that there are further restorations beneath an old varnish. The current restoration is not particularly accurate. This is a picture that could be more accurately restored, but it can also be hung in its current state.
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This beautiful still life by Jacob van Hulsdonck is unique in the artist’s oeuvre. Known for his fruit still lifes, sometimes paired with a small vase of flowers, his lavish food displays, and his rare pure floral still lifes, this is the only known composition by him depicting a basket of flowers as the central motif, here combined with a tazza of grapes.

Hulsdonck was born in Antwerp and moved at an early age to Middelburg before returning to his native city. Though details of his artistic training are unknown, in Middelburg he is likely to have come into contact with Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, who was the preeminent flower painter in the city at that time.  Back in Antwerp, he became a Master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1608.  While many of his paintings show close affinities with those of Osias Beert the Elder, Hulsdonck would surely have been aware in Antwerp of the works of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and his innovations in the rapidly developing genre of still life painting.  Indeed, the prototype of the present composition most likely originated with Jan Brueghel the Elder and is known in a number of variants by his son Jan Brueghel the Younger and other artists in their circle.  The Brueghel prototype, however, depicts flowers in both the basket and on the tazza whereas, here, Hulsdonck has substituted green and purple grapes.  The wicker basket overflows with spring blooms including tulips, peonies, jonquils, irises, fritillaries (of which a Crown Imperial is seen at top left), anemones, roses, lilacs, and lilies..  A bunch of grapes and other flowers are scattered on the table top with a beetle, a butterfly, a dragonfly and a sprig of rosemary.  Hulsdonck’s pure flower still lifes are more simple and restrained, depicting a limited number of blooms and, in some cases, only a single type of flower.¹  They come closer to the tradition of Bosschaert, possibly reflecting his early influence in Middelburg.  In this work, however, the greater number and variety of flowers depicted, and the overall exuberance of the arrangement, are closer in spirit to the more elaborate floral compositions of Jan Brueghel the Elder.

We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer of the RKD/Netherlandish Institute for Art History, The Hague, for confirming this painting to be by Hulsdonck, based on a photograph.  He dates the painting to the 1620s.  This work is also accompanied by a photo-copy of a letter from Ingvar Bergström, dated Goteborg, 10 March 1981, also confirming it to be by Hulsdonck and dating it to slightly earlier circa 1615-20.  He concludes that: “The Basket of Flowers and Tazza of Grapes is in my opinion to be understood as a tour de force, as a capital work within Hulsdonck’s oeuvre, in which he comes particularly close to Jan Brueghel and perhaps even meant to enter into competition with that great master.”

1.  For example, Carnations in a Glass, signed, oil on panel, 13 ¼ by 9 5/8 in., Heinz Collection, Washington, D.C., see Still Lifes of the Golden Age, Northern European Paintings from the Heinz Family Collection, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C. 1989, cat. no. 20, reproduced.