Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os

Anonymous sale, Bonhams, London, 11 June 2002, lot 80;

Collection Mrs D.M. Wildham, Great-Britain, in 2002;

With Simonis & Buunk, Ede, in 2002;

Anonymous sale, Christie's, Amsterdam, 26 October 2004, lot 181;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Van Os follows in the footsteps of his compatriots, the still life painters Gérard and Cornelisz. van Spaendonck, as well as his father Jan van Os, with whom he trained. After winning the first prize of the Société Felix Meritis for a still life in 1809, he pursued his career in this genre in Amsterdam in the 1810s. He made his first trip to Paris in 1812, before moving there permanently in 1826.

The present painting, dated 1836, was also located by the artist in Paris. Van Os produced this dazzling and harmoniously coloured composition when he was already well-versed in the practice of still life. The painting’s exuberance does not get in the way of balance in the arrangement of fruits, vegetables and flowers, all identifiable. Among others. It is possible to recognize aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, orange flowers and a pineapple. Van Os made the most of his summers in Haarlem, visiting nurseries where ihe studies flowers and exotic plants, his favourite subjects.

This rich, colourful and perfectly structured composition demonstrates the artist’s talent, which gave him a name as one of the most gifted painters of still lifes in the nineteenth century.