拍品 140
  • 140

JAN VAN HUYSUM | Study of a vase of flowers

估價
25,000 - 35,000 USD
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描述

  • Jan van Huysum
  • Study of a vase of flowers
  • Pen and black ink, oiled black chalk and gray wash
  • 390 by 309 mm; 15 3/8  by 12 1/4  in

來源

Sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 15 November 1994, lot 54,
where acquired by the present owners

展覽

Boston, St. Botolph Club, A Selection of Dutch 18th Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Gordon Collection, 2003, no. 8

Condition

Hinge mounted in two places along the upper edge to a modern cream mount. There is a very slight horizontal crease running across the upper half of the sheet and the remains of hanging lines, created during the manufacture of the paper, roughly an inch below. There is some minor foxing to the lower right corner. The sheet is in otherwise superb condition with the medium fresh and vibrant throughout and the image strong. Sold in a modern giltwood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

拍品資料及來源

This robust and energetically drawn sheet, depicting a vase of flowers sitting on a table ledge, is a quintessential example of Jan van Huysum’s supreme mastery of the floral still life, a subject matter at which he was unparalleled, despite the numerous still life specialists active in Holland, during the first half of the 18th Century. Described by the Dutch artist and biographer, Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719) as the “phoenix of all flower painters”, Van Huysum’s insistence on working from life and closely studying the world around him, resulted in his flower pictures being some of the most keenly sought after artworks, not just in Holland, but throughout Europe.

The present drawing, executed in a vigorous combination of pen and black ink, oiled black chalk and gray wash, is a virtuoso display, not only in the sophisticated handling of the media, but also composition, with Van Huysum able to create a sense of dynamism in what, by definition, is an utterly motionless subject matter. In the process he elevates the still life from a predominantly decorative art form into something of beauty and subtlety, imbued with an all-important underlying message about the transience of life. Where there is currently beauty, with flowers in full bloom, there will soon be decay, as others wither in their vase, or a single petal begins to hang free from the rest of a flower, its demise already underway.

Though the rather sketchy nature of the present work, with leaves, petals and stems accurately indicated through the seemingly liberal application of pen, chalk and wash, provides the drawing with a modern sensibility, Van Huysum would never have intended such drawings to have been sold from his studio. Instead they would have been used to provide prospective clients with a loose leaf model book, from which they could choose a composition that he would subsequently paint in oil. Whilst no surviving painting of this particular composition appears to survive, a drawn version, today in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zurich, possibly by Van Huysum, but rather weak in its execution when compared to our drawing, does exist.1

Other drawings by Van Huysum, drawn in an identical combination of media to our sheet, where his distinctive use of gray wash, expertly and intentionally coupled with the inherent white of the paper, creates a remarkable chiaroscuro effect, can be found in some of the world's most prominent public and private collections. Such examples include Study of flowers in a vase; with some stems lying around the base2 in the collection of the British Museum and A bouquet of flowers in a terracotta vase3 previously on the New York art market in 2008.

1. See M. H. Grant, Jan van Huysum 1682 - 1749 including a Catalogue Raisonné of the Artist's Fruit & Flower Paintings, Leigh-on-Sea 1954, p. 34, no. 317
2. London, British Museum, inv. no. 1920.4.20.12
3. Sale, New York, Christie’s, 24 January 2008, lot 154