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Premium Osias BEERT (Courtrai, c. 1580 - Antwerp, 1623)
Basket of fl…
See original version (French)
Osias BEERT (Courtrai, c. 1580 - Antwerp, 1623)
Basket of fl…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 50
Description
Osias BEERT (Courtrai, c. 1580 - Antwerp, 1623)
Basket of flowers and bouquet in a Wan-Li vase on an entablature
Oil on oak panel, one plate
Basket of flowers and bouquet in a Wan-Li vase on an entablature, oil on panel, by O. Beert
15.35 x 25.39 in.
39 x 64.5 cm
Provenance: Aspelin Collection, Stockholm ;
Collection of Count Carl van Rosen, Stockholm, circa 1913;
Gösta Stenman, Stockholm, 1934;
Wallin Collection, Stockholm;
Anonymous sale; Stockholm, Bukowski, 5-8 November 1975, no. 5 ;
Richard Green Gallery, London, 1976;
Collection Alfred Carl Studer, Vaduz;
Anonymous sale; Zurich, Koller, 22 March 2016, no. 3031 ;
Richard Green Gallery, London;
Private collection, Belgium
Bibliography: Olof Granberg, Inventaire général des trésors d'art peintures & sculptures, principalement de maîtres étrangers (non-Scandinaves) en Suède, vol. III, Stockholm, 1913, no. 97 (as Balthasar van der Ast)
Marie-Louise Hairs, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, volume I, Brussels, 1985, p. 342-343, no. 115 and volume II, Essai de catalogue des œuvres authentiques, Brussels, 1985, p. 5
Sam Segal, Flowers and Nature, The Hague, 1990, p. 183 (mentioned in footnote 2)
Marie-Louise Hairs, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Tournai, 1998, p. 291
It is assumed that Osias Beert was born in the Antwerp region, probably in Kortrijk around 1580. He was then documented in Antwerp in 1596, where he lived with his family and was apprenticed to the painter Andries van Baesrode. He obtained the title of master painter at the Academy of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1602, and in 1606 married Margaretha Ykens, aunt of the painter Frans Ykens. The archives tell us about the organisation of his studio: six painters, including Frans Ykens, were trained there, as was his son Osias Beert II (1622-1658). As Osias Beert the Elder never dated and very rarely signed his works, confusion between the father's and son's output was once commonplace.
Alongside Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) and Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621), Osias Beert played a part in the development of the still life genre in Flanders in the early 17th century. Using a vivid, rich and varied palette, he produced compositions of fruit and flowers, as well as representations of richly laid tables, adorned with victuals, silverware and glassware.
Damask nigella, guinea fritillary, narcissus, anemone, crocus, iris, rose, rosemary and rosehips are just some of the flowers here arranged in a porcelain vase from the Wan-Li period (1573-1620) known as a kendi in the kraak style, and generously placed in a wicker basket. Here, Beert depicts a delightful array of expensive flowers in a vase that was being produced with considerable success at the time, fetching particularly high prices at public auctions. In the 1630s, tulips were at the heart of an extraordinary phenomenon known as tulipomania, where a single bulb could change hands for a large sum of money. The most prized were the red-tinted tulips we see on our panel. Here, Beert offers us a silent opulence, meticulously arranged as usual. The theme of the fragility of life and its ephemeral nature is subtly introduced by the presence of a butterfly, reminding us of the brevity of human existence.
Several works by Osias Beert, dating from the 1610s, can be linked to our painting. The Musée du Louvre holds a panel by Osias Beert depicting flowers in a woven basket on a wooden entablature (no. M.N.R. 563, fig. 1). As in our work, insects have been placed in the foreground. Another composition, now in private hands, is formally similar to ours (no. RKD 14707).
Osias BEERT (Courtrai, c. 1580 - Antwerp, 1623)
39 x 64.5 cm
See original version (French)
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