Galerie Dreyfus
83
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HENDRIK VAN DER BORCHT THE ELDER
(BRUSSELS, 1583 – FRANKFURT…
See original version (French)
83
-
HENDRIK VAN DER BORCHT THE ELDER
(BRUSSELS, 1583 – FRANKFURT…
See original version (French)
Estimate €48,000 - €60,000
Voluntary lot
Description
HENDRIK VAN DER BORCHT THE ELDER
(BRUSSELS, 1583 – FRANKFURT AM MAIN, 1651)
Bouquets of tulips and daffodils in a silver vase
c. 1630
Oil on panel
43.2 x 28.2 cm
Inscribed on the reverse in another hand: ‘J. Breughel’
Provenance
European private collection
Spanning the full height of the painting, as in a full-length portrait, this vase displays
its floral arrangement in an explosion of pale yellow and vermilion red corollas. Arranged
with a certain geometric rigour, three large tulips balance the bouquet with their
pinkish masses. The largest flowers frame the smaller bellflowers, daffodils and other
wildflowers; the leaves, a soft green, spring forth at regular intervals. Discreetly
symmetrical, the composition evokes a sense of balance, harmony and majesty. The silver vase certainly plays a major part in the splendour of this composition. Richly engraved with classical motifs, such as these arabesque acanthus scrolls, its decoration is reminiscent of contemporary ceremonial armour and helmets. Its placement, perfectly centred on a marble parapet, gives the bouquet its stability and splendour. It is unclear whether the vase or the bouquet enhances the other; the pictorial mastery lies in the fact that both objects are treated with equal care. This floral composition thus offers a perfect synthesis of the golden age of European Baroque painting, in which the Flemish artists’ focus on nature – inherited here from Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621) – meets the Italian painters’ fascination with antiquity.
Hendrik van der Borcht the Elder (1583–1651) was a Flemish painter and engraver renowned for
his portraits, still lifes and landscapes. Born in Brussels into a Calvinist family, he emigrated
to Germany in 1586 to escape religious persecution. In 1598, his mother, Elisabeth Note-
mann, married Anton Mertens, head of a jewellery business and a
private bank, in her second marriage. A great art lover, he placed his young stepson Hendrik in apprenticeship with
Gillis van Valckenborch (1569–1622). Upon completing his training, Hendrik undertook a study trip
to Rome (between 1604 and 1610), where he studied under an expert in antiquities (epigraphy and numismatics). On his return to Frankenthal in 1611, he married Dina van Couwenberghe, the great-
granddaughter of the Brussels painter Philippe van Orley, whose brother Bernard van Orley (1488
– 1541) was the official painter to the Habsburgs. On the death of his father-in-law, Hendrik van der
Borcht, having become financially independent, was free to choose his commissions. In 1613, at the court
of Heidelberg, he engraved, together with the painter Anton Mirou, the illustrations for the book commemorating the
wedding celebrations of Frederick V of the Palatinate to Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James
I of England. His meeting with the Earl of Arundel, a discerning art collector, proved
decisive. A friendship developed. In 1627, he settled in Frankfurt after Frankenthal
came under Catholic rule. Whilst his work as a landscape painter links him to the Frankenthal school, a group
of Flemish painters who had settled there and developed a style of small-scale woodland landscapes
featuring historical or religious scenes, Van der Borcht is also renowned for his
on copper depicting statuettes, objects and ancient coins, perhaps based on
his own collection. This bouquet in an antique-style vase reflects his taste, shaped by his exposure
to ancient artefacts during his stay in Rome. There is another painting on a similar subject, in a
private collection, this time featuring an ornate terracotta vase depicting Romulus and Remus being suckled by
the Roman she-wolf.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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