Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger

Floral still life with a rose, wallflower, tulip, white rose, dog rose, columbines, African violets and an iris in a glass vase, with a caterpillar, blowfly, thistle butterfly, frog and a sand lizard on a stone plinth

Auction Closed

January 27, 09:38 PM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

The Property of a Family

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger

Arnemuiden 1609 - 1645 Utrecht

oil on oak panel

panel: 16½ by 10⅞ in.; 41.9 by 27.6 cm.

framed: 22⅜ by 16⅞ in.; 56.8 by 42.9 cm.

With Dr. Curt Benedict, Paris, 1956;
With Saam Nijstad, Lochem & The Hague, 1957;
From whom acquired by M.J. Countess van Lynden van Sandenburgh (1903-1983), The Hague;
Thence by descent to the present owners.

Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw, 21 July - 1 September 1962, no. 30a;
Amsterdam, Kunsthandel K. & V. Waterman, Masters of Middelburg, March 1984, no. 24.

L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert dynasty: painters of flowers and fruit, Leigh-on-Sea 1960, p. 93, no. 10, reproduced fig. 52b.;
L.J. Bol, Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw, exhibition catalogue, Dordrecht 1962, p. 21, cat. no. 30a, reproduced fig. 33;
L.J. Bol, ‘Goede onbekenden, VII. Schilders van het vroege Nederlandse bloemstuk met kleingedierte als bijwerk, Ambrosius Bosschaert de Jonge, Ambrosius Bosschaert en Jacob Marrell’, in Tableau 3, no. 5 (1981), p. 642, reproduced fig. 2.;
L.J. Bol, Goede Onbekenden…, Utrecht, 1982, p. 61, reproduced fig. 2;
S. Segal, in N. Bakker et al, Masters of Middelburg: Exhibition in the Honour of Laurens J. Bol, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam 1984, pp. 68 and 164, cat. no. 24, reproduced p. 165.

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger was the eldest son of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621), patriarch of the so-called “Bosschaert Dynasty” of Utrecht painters and one of the first Dutch specialists in fruit and flower painting. From his father, Ambrosius the Younger inherited not only an affinity for botanical subjects but also an unmistakable skill and technical ability showcased in the present picture. The rich, polychrome bouquet of wild and cultivated flowers, displayed in a simple glass vase atop a stone slab, is set against a monochrome background. Rendered with meticulous naturalism and botanical detail, the balanced and curated arrangement consists of variously colored tulips and a yellow variegated iris, blue columbine, pink briar rose, cabbage rose, and yellow wallflower, along with two butterflies and a caterpillar. The composition is further enlivened by the presence of a blowfly, a sinuous sand lizard, and an ‘Utrecht toad’, which appears in identical form in works by Roelant Savery (1576-1639) and Johannes Bosschaert (1607-1628).

Widely accepted as dating to circa 1630, this beautiful botanical still life is characteristic of Ambrosius the Younger’s early works prior to 1634, at the peak of his father’s stylistic influence.¹ We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer for suggesting a more precise dating of 1627, supported by a comparison of the present picture with a signed and dated still life of the same year, formerly in the Detroit Institute of Arts and sold at Sotheby’s London, July 10, 2008, lot 155.² Bosschaert appears to have benefited from a close circle of distinguished still life artists including his father and two brothers, his close friend Roelant Savery, and his uncle, Balthasar van der Ast. The distinctive yellow iris at the pinnacle of the present work’s bouquet also appears in Ambrosius the Elder’s painting of 1621, sold in these rooms, January 38, 2021, lot 38, and a still life by Van der Ast in the Mauritshuis museum collection in The Hague.²

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the present attribution to Ambrosius the Younger on the basis of digital photographs.

¹ Laurens J. Bol suggests that the present work likely dates to 1632 or 1633 (see Bol 1982, p. 61); According to Sam Segal, it is datable to around 1630 (see Segal 1984, p. 68).

² Sold Sotheby’s New York, 28 January 2021, lot 38, oil on copper, 35.2 by 25 cm.; Inv. no. 1073, oil on panel, 41 by 32 cm.