Painting of the Day: “Flowers in a Glass,” by Roelandt Savery, 1613

Flowers in a Glass
Roelandt Savery, 1613
On loan from a private collection
to the National Gallery, Britain

Though born in Flanders, painter Roelandt Savery (a fantastic name) lived in Amsterdam from an early age. There, he was responsible for a number of the brilliant still life paintings which defined Seventeenth-Century Flemish and Dutch art. Here, we see a still life of flowers which could not have been painted from life. The blossoms that Savery has combined are from flowers that bloom at different times of the year. The detail of each bloom is spot-on, indicating that he had drawn studies of several flowers throughout the year and combined those designs into this one canvas. The flowers are nestled into an ornate wine glass known as a roemer. Roemers were known for their uneven surface of raised drop-shaped masses of glass.

In typical Dutch fashion, the vase is flanked by a frog and a lizard. The Dutch frequently included animals in their still lifes, which, technically makes them not still lifes. Butterflies and dragonflies flit around the buds, with some alighting on the petals. While these sorts of paintings are often overwrought, this one—though still quite full—takes a less-crowded approach, making the composition appear to be quite realistic.

Painting of the Day: The Misers, 1548-1551

The Misers
A Follower of Marinus can Reymerswaele
c. 1550
Acquired by Queen Anne
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Historians believe that Queen Anne (the second daughter of King James II) added this handsome and strange painting to the Royal Collection. The scene was painted between 1548 and 1551 by an unknown student artist who is believed to have been a follower of Marinus van Reymerswaele (c. 1490/95-c. 1567). Painted on board, the painting also mimics a 1440 work by Jan van Eyck which depicted a banker in conference with his client. While this painting by van Eyck is believed lost, it is credited as having launched a genre of works which showed businessmen in Fifteenth Century dress engaged in money matters. Of the sixty variations of the scene, most of them are composed in a style which hints at a strong Dutch influence. Most of these compositions can trace their stylistic roots to the works of van Eyck. Still, others are clearly inspired by the paintings of van Reymerswaele and, also, another Dutch master Quinten Massys.

Let’s take a closer look at this piece which is entitled, “The Misers.” This follower of van Reymerswael has taken great pains to show the nature of the men. Their faces are masks of avarice and greed and their claw-like hands nod at the common conception of those involved in the changing of money. The scene is meant to be amusing and the visages of the men purposefully lean toward caricature. Despite the piles of coins in front of them, we’re reminded that this wealth will not aid them for long. The brevity of life is suggested by the candle which burns near them—it is almost spent, just as their lives are. 

What I find most interesting about this work is that the ledger on the table has been inscribed in French, indicating that this piece was likely a copy by a student—commissioned by a French patron who much admired the original by van Reymerswaele.

Painting of the Day: Judith Leyster’s “A Boy and Girl with a Cat and an Eel,” 1635

A Boy and Girl with a Cat and Eel
Judith Leyster, 1635
National Gallery, Britain

Dutch painter Judith Leyster was one of the few recognized Seventeenth Century female painters of her time. She often used children in her compositions to create allegorical scenes to demonstrate the foolishness of humanity.  Drawing on the Dutch saying, “He who plays with cats gets scratched,” Leyster has painted a rather gruesome scene of two children.  The boy has baited a cat with a wriggling eel.  The child has captured the cat who is further being taunted by a wicked little girl who’s pulling his tail.  The cat’s extended claws tell us how this little situation will end.  Meant to be a warning against foolish and destructive behavior, this painting is simultaneously charming and disturbing. It can be viewed amongst other works by Leyster at the National Gallery, Britain.

The National Gallery, Britain

Painting of the Day: Interior of a Tavern with a Five Peasants and a Woman, 1646

"Interior of a Tavern with Five Peasants."
Adriaen van Ostade
Dutch, 1646
Purchased by King George IV, 1814
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection

Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The work of Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), this painting comes from Haarlem and dates to 1646. The canvas was purchased by King George IV from one Sir Thomas Baring and was one of a lot of eighty-six Flemish and Dutch works which the King had wanted for Carlton House in 1814.

Van Ostade, with this work, borrows from the artistic ideals of Adriaen Brouwer who was the first Dutch painter to introduce this sort of interior scene of comical peasant characters in a muddy setting.

These scenes were painted with hasty, loose brushstrokes which the artist used to suggest a variety of details. For example, in this composition, the tavern is obviously set up in a domestic setting as indicated by the bed at the rear of the scene. Furthermore, a child’s potty is visible behind the patron who holds his nose. This sort of appeal to all of the senses was typical of these genre paintings of the early Seventeenth Century. Most often, the senses that were at play were not entirely pleasant, but, rather strove to convey some sense of realism.

Print of the Day: Der Narresneider, 18th C

Der NarresneiderPrint, 18th Century
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This peculiar print is of unknown origin, but likely dates to the end of the Eighteenth Century. Since the myriad writing incorporated into the image is in Dutch and German, we can guess at its place of origin.

The image shows a man being treated by a doctor. That’s not so strange. What is strange is that he’s tied to the wall and the doctor is about to cut off his ear. Hmmm… Furthermore, the doctor has the face of Mr. Punch. Luckily for the patient, Dr. Punchinello has been distracted by a woman who seems to indicate that she has a bump on her head.

Since my German is quite bad and my Dutch is even worse, and, I can’t really make out what the text says, I’ll just let you decide what’s happening here.

The print is part of the Royal Collection.

Gifts of Grandeur: A Unique Talc Miniature, c. 1750

Miniature with Talc
Holland, 1750
The Victoria & Albert Museum

We’ve looked at many portrait miniatures over the past few years, but this one—dating to about 1750—is quite special. It’s the sort of portrait that is called a “Talc.” These unusual images were quite a popular amusement which developed around 1650. Talcs, miniature oil paintings, often came in leather cases with an accompanying set of shaped slivers of mica (a mineral known at the time as talc). 

Upon these sheets of the transparent mineral, costume details would be painted so that these could be overlaid upon the portrait as sort of formal, flat dress-up dolls. Some portraits came with up to twenty different “talcs” allowing for numerous costume changes. This one depicts a woman wearing a pink dress with handsome jewelry. The portrait came with twenty different talks of new costumes. It was made in Holland by an unknown artist. The talcs could be inserted into the hinged glass lid of the locket in which the painting has been set.

Mastery of Design: A Scotch and French Clock, 1610-1615

Clock
Scottish Works, French Case
Gold, Silver, Enamel
1610-1615 with alterations from the Nineteenth Century
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here’s a rather unusual timepiece—the work of a Scotch clockmaker and a French case designer. While the case is much the same as it was in the early Seventeenth Century when it was created, the movement of this spring-driven, striking table clock has been drastically changed over the centuries.

One of the most intriguing features of this domed clock is that the base plate—which no one would ever see—is extensively decorated and engraved--signed by David Ramsay. Additional decoration added to the clock was carried out by the French clockmaker Louis David as evidenced by a brass plate bearing his name. This plate cleverly was placed to cover Ramsay’s signature. Though unusual to modern eyes, the case was typical of a particular type of domed clocks from France. A variety of French clocks from this period have similar square bases and domed bell-covers, pierced with such openwork.

The scene on the engraved base shows King James I with his two sons Henry and Charles. They are holding the Pope's nose to a grindstone—as one doees. Also pictured on the right is a Cardinal accompanied by three friars who watch the scene in terror. This queer little scene is inspired by a settlement made in 1609 between Spain and the Estates General of the Netherlands which formed an alliance between a Roman Catholic and a Protestant state.

The top of the clock—which holds the dial, seen from above is set with silver and enamel which matches the four inset silver panels which adorn the ornate sides of the case.

The Home Beautiful: The King and Queen of Bohemia Dining in Public, 1634

The King and Queen of Bohemia Dining in Public
Bartholomeus van Bassen, 1634
Acquired in 1729 by George II and his wife, Queen Caroline
The Royal Collection

This fanciful painting is purely from the imagination of Belgian-born painter Bartholomeus van Bassen. Van Bassen moved to the Netherlands as a young man and formed close associations with Dutch painters who helped him master the art of perspective. Van Bassen excelled at painting opulent interiors. These scenes were often based on real places, but more of then than not, depicted scenes of imaginary grandeur. He also delighted in showing notable contemporary figures in domestic situations, such as eating.


Here, we see the King and Queen of Bohemia dining with their young son in an extravagant, palatial dining hall. The room never existed. For that matter, this scene is pure fabrication. It was painted two years after the death of the King of Bohemia. Frederick V became King of Bohemia upon his mariage to Elizabeth, the daughter of Britain’s King James I. He was, however, only the king for a short period of time—the winter of 1619, to be exact (giving him the title of “The Winter King”). Frederick was quckly and hostily overthrown by Emperor Ferdinand II and he and his queen were sent into exile in the Netherlands. There, they met van Bassen. The king died in 1632, devastating King Charles I who had been very fond of Frederick.

Why van Bassen chose to paint the late King of Bohemia in this domestic, yet dramatic, scene is unknown. It’s one of two such paintings in existence. The other shows Charles I in a similar composition. 

Speaking of dining, come back tomorrow for a special, Friday Edition of "The Treat of the Week."

Painting of the Day: Children Blowing Bubbles, 18th C.

Children Blowing BubblesItalian School
Eighteenth Century
The Victoria & Albert Museum

When first given to the V&A, this attractive genre painting was originally thought to be French, however it has subsequently been reattributed to the Italian School largely based on the fact that it features a poplar wooden support.

The subject is neither Italian nor French, and is actually derived from the Dutch 17th century Genre and Vanitas traditions such as Caspar Netscher's Two Boys Blowing Bubbles ca. 1670 (London, National Gallery).

Scenes of children blowing bubbles were often used as a symbol of the transience of human life according to the ancient motto 'homo bulla' (man is a bubble).  Bubbles are fragile and have a brief moment of beauty before they burst—rather like people.  Well, people don’t burst.  Mostly.  But, you get it.  The brevity of youth, beauty and life, etc.

This painting is in the same spirit.  Here, we see children play in an Arcadian landscape ofwith flowers, ribbons, little dogs and sunshine.  Ah, but mortality lurks…yes.   The crumbling ruin in the background reminds us of  the passage of time.  

I can see why this painting was hard to place.  It had no documentation and is a Dutch subject in a French style using Italian materials and a pale color palette which was rather out of place in the time period in which it was painted—sometime in the 18^th Century.

Painting of the Day: Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room, 1658

Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room
Pieter de Hooch, 1658
Acquired by King George IV
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Pieter de Hooch (Rotterdam 1629-Amsterdam 1684), the great Dutch master produced this painting in 1658. Typical of Dutch painting of the era, and also demonstrative of de Hooch’s body of work, the finely rendered composition gives us a glimpse at an interior scene frozen in time.

The piece was acquired by King George IV (1762-1830) in 1825. The painting is notable because it’s illustrative of that brief moment in time when de Hooch and Vermeer were working simultaneously on similar subjects. While similar in approach and style, the two artists—when comparing respective works of this same year—clearly tackled their pieces with different spirits.

De Hooch’s masterful exploration of the quality of light is evident here. The fall of the filtered light on the detailed floor almost gives the composition a sense of being a landscape. This comparison is reinforced by the presence of a landscape on the wall.

This is one of two de Hooch paintings which were recorded in the inventory of King George IV’s personal residence, Carlton House. 

Painting of the Day: The Oyster Meal

The Victoria & Albert Museum

You may feel that this scene of seduction in which a young woman, seated at a table covered with a Turkish blanket, is familiar. She is offered a meal of oysters and white wine by an older man standing beside her, and she already holds a glass of wine and an oyster, and looks slightly flushed in her fur-trimmed cape and a silk white dress. A curtained bed--the symbol of the man's scheme--is depicted behind them.

This is one of several versions of this scene by Frans van Mieris (1635-1681) who was trained by Abraham Toorenvliet (ca. 1620-1692) and by Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), one of the most eminent Rembrandt's pupils in Leyden. Van Mieris was known for small scale genre painting with exquisite refinement and his skill in representing all sorts of textures: such as the fur-trimmed cape and a white silk dress as well as the sparkles of light reflecting in the jar, the tin plate and the glass. 

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Miniature of King Charles I when Prince of Wales, 1616

Miniautre of King Charles I when Prince of Wales.  Watercolor on vellum applied to card.
Sir Balthazar Gerbier, 1616
Nineteenth Century silver frame.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

What a pretty lady. Oh! Wait…it’s not a lady. This rather awkward miniature of a very feminine-looking gent is by an amateur painter, Sir Balthazar Gerbier, explaining its rough and confusing look. Gerbier was born in the Netherlands, and basically, he trained for the life of a courtier, including the useful art of drawing. Unprepared for anything else, Gerbier entered the service of Prince William of Orange in 1615 who sent the man to England in an ambassadorial capacity in 1616. While in England, Gerbier transferred his services and allegiance to the then Earl (later the Duke) of Buckingham who was a very close companion of King James I. Gerbier became the Duke of Buckingham’s domestic architect and adviser on art, roles for which he was ill-suited.

During the early 17th century in England, a gentleman was expected to show an interest in miniature painting as a complement to their gentlemanly knowledge of heraldry which was a favored skill under the early Stuart monarchs. Gerbier was ambitious, but not especially skilled in much of anything, so, to him, a knowledge of miniature painting techniques must have seemed useful.

Gerbier entered the service of King Charles I in 1628, just after the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham. The Dutchman’s charms found favor with Charles I and he was knighted in 1638. The two had previously been quite chummy through his association with Buckingham.

This youthful portrait of the future Charles I shows Charles just after he had been made Prince of Wales. The prince is depicted wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. Clearly, this clunky miniature was not painted from life, but rather is a clumsy copy of a full-size portrait.

This is not the original frame. The miniature was re-set in the Nineteenth Century in this silver frame with a rolled edge bezel and a loop made up of wire flanked by two detached scrolls of flat wire.

The same miniature on the right with another by Gerbier on the left depicting, perhaps, the Duke of Gloucester.

Drawing of the Day: A Ball Scene, c. 1595-1605

A Ball Scene
Jacob Matham, 1595-1605
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This work of pen and brown ink is finished with a wash of brown and grey and touches of red and white chalk to add depth. The sketch is attributed to Jacob Matham (1571-1631) and it was acquired by King George III (1738-1820) around 1810, about two hundred years after it was created.

The scene depicts a Renaissance-style room inhabited by an elegant party engaged in an elegant dance. As this is likely a cartoon for a later painting, the sketch is somewhat rough and displays a rather inconsistent perspective.

The drawing has long been the subject of much interest, in large part because of the rather eerie appearance of some of the figures. Their ghostly look, it was discovered, owes to over-painting which changed their position—their original poses bleeding through the white gouache which was used to cover them.

There’s also a problem with the signature. While the piece is signed by Matham, it is also inscribed, “Venice (vinetia), 1605.” This is problematic in that, in 1605, Matham was in Haarlem. He visited Venice in 1595, not 1605. Furthermore, the room in the composition is clearly not Venetian.

Also, the size of the piece is not consistent with Matham’s other works.

For these reasons, some question the veracity of the attribution to Matham. Still, it’s likely that the artist produced the piece ten years after his Venetian trip in an effort to remember what he’d seen as well as to capitalize on the growing popularity of ballroom scenes.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Church, Jacob Van Ruisdael, 1665-70

Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Church
Jacob Van Ruisdael, 1665-1670
The National Gallery, Britain

Inspired by a view he’d seen in the Dutch town of Haarlem, celebrated landscape painter produced one of his most famous paintings. A Landscape with a Ruined Castle and a Churchwas such a well-received scene that Van Ruisdael repainted the landscape in several smaller versions.

Here, he shows his mastery of composition. The banks of clouds balance the painting while a diagonal slash of sky simultaneously draws the viewer into the painting and stops the viewer’s gaze at the spire of the church as it appears to pierce the sky. Van Ruisdael was careful to give the painting a natural scale. By incorporating the human figures (probably painted by another artist) into the canvas, he’s given us a sense of the epic sweep of the land.

This painting as well as some of the variations on it are on display at the National Gallery in London.

Painting of the Day: A Wreath of Fruit with Birds Suspended by a Cord, Eighteenth Century

Wreath of Fruit with Birds Suspended by A Cord
Unknown Artist after Frans Snyders
Eighteenth Century
One of a Pair
The Victoria & Albert Museum

When a collector spotted a painting that he liked in a museum or the home of an associate, in the Eighteenth Century, he couldn’t very well take a photo of it. If he wanted to have a copy of th painting, he had to commission it and the work would be carried out by another painter. For this reason, every so often, we’ll come across a copy of a painting which dates to around the same period of the creation of the original work. Similarly, paintings were copied by students—either of the original artist or another—as a means of perfecting their own techniques.

Here, we have such a copy. This subtle still life is a partial late Eighteenth Century copy after a large composition by Frans Snyders-- The Infant Jesus with St John the Baptist and Putti with Flowers and Fruit Garlands. In this scene of a wreath of fruits with birds flitting around, the painting depicts a variety of fruits including cherries, strawberries, apples, grapes and pomegranates. In the original painting, this wreath constitutes the upper part of the composition—essentially adornment above the figures of Jesus and John. For some reason the artist duplicated the upper part of the canvas as its own work and then reproduced the original’s festoons of vegetables as another canvas

The original artist, Frans Snyders (1579-1657) was born in Antwerp, where he studied under Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1565-1637) and Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632). Snyders soon became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1602, and, later travelled in Italy from 1608 to 1609. His specialty, clearly, was still-lifes, but he also enjoyed painting animals. He is credited for creating a new form of still life: the animal still life.  Lots and lots of dead rabbits and birds with rotting fruit...

Snyders notably collaborated with a number of celebrated artists: Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Cornelis de Vos (ca.1584-1651), Abraham Janssen (ca.1575-1632), Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), Jan Boeckhorst (1605-1668) and Willeboirts Bosschaert (1614-1654) to name a few. 

A Mystery In Paint: Pieter de Hooch’s “Dead Bird” Still Life

A Man with Dead Birds and Other Figures
Pieter de Hooch and others, 1655, 1825
National Gallery, London

Pieter de Hooch, the well-known Seventeenth Century Dutch painter, was celebrated for his genre paintings of stable scenes and his limited, but rich, color palette. At first glance, this 1655 de Hooch painting entitled A Man with Dead Birds and Other Figureswas a considerable source of mystery for art historians. The scene, for the most part, was pure de Hooch, however, the still life of colorful birds and a spaniel in the lower right quadrant seemed conspicuously out of place. When the painting found a home in London’s National Gallery, scientists and historians joined forces to solve a centuries-old mystery.


X-ray images showed that beneath the painting of the pile of dead birds and the spaniel, was the figure of a reclining man. The man was clearly in pain as he seemed to be struggling to support his weight. The figure now seen plucking feathers from a bird, originally had been painted with his hand on the reclining man’s knee. Digging into historical documents, a recording of a painting by de Hooch was found which described a work of a wounded man being attended to in a stable. That work was not accounted for. Most certainly, it was the piece in the National Gallery, the painting which had been over-painted with the still life of birds.

X-Ray Image of de Hooch's PaintingThe National Gallery, London

Why had this happened? Who had made the alterations? Records indicated that a painting of a wounded man in a stable was sold to someone named Regemorter in 1825. In 1900, the painting entitledA Man with Dead Birds and Other Figures was sold from the same collection. Now aware that these two paintings were one-in-the-same, historians concluded that sometime during that seventy-five year period, the piece had been altered. Regemorter was most likely the painter and art dealer Ignatius Van Regemorter. Ignatius’ father was also a painter and art dealer known for altering paintings of great Dutch masters to make them more “saleable” in the market of the time. Was this the answer?

We’ll never know for certain. However, all the evidence seems to support the theory that the Van Regermorters had, once again, changed a work of art for commercial purposes. The brightly painted birds are reminiscent of Ignatius Van Regemorter’s other works.

Does the change effect the importance and value of the work? No. While we would most likely have preferred to see the work as de Hooch originally intended, the interference of the over-painter only makes the piece more interesting and certainly gives an element to its provenance that is, at the very least, intriguing.

Painting of the Day: A Still Life with Fruit, Lobster, Monkey and Silver Vessels, 1660-70

Still Life with Fruit, Lobster and Silver Vessels
Willem van Aelst, 1660-1670
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This is about as Dutch as a still life can get. The Dutch (and the Flemish), especially in the Seventeenth Century, had a love of canvases of scenes of tables laden with dead animals, overripe fruit and shiny objects. Sometimes these scenes would be given an added dimension by including living figures—usually animals—interwoven within the foodstuffs. Here, dating between 1670 and 1680, we have a still life with fruit, flowers, lobster, dead birds, shells, fine porcelain and silverware on a creased red and blue tablecloth. The scene is adorned by the presence of three living animals--a dog, a parrot and a monkey—and is further heightened in drama by the presence of a rather vulgar grimacing man behind a very Dutch window in the background.

This is most likely the work of Willem van Aelst (1627-1687) who was born in Delft where he trained with his uncle, Evert van Alest (1602-57), a celebrated painter of similar still life works. Willem went to France and Italy where he worked as a court painter, returning to the Netherlands in 1656 where he taught until his death.

Willem had a flare for rendering glassware, precious silverware, fruit and flowers and was celebrated for the symmetry of his compositions. 

Painting of the Day: A Town Fair with a Puppet Show, 1803

Click on image to go to the fair.

"A Town Fair with a Puppet Show"
Jan Anthonie Langendijk, 1803
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This lively and colorful painting is the work of Jan Anthonie Langendijk (1780-1818). The canvas is dated 1803. The artist shows us a busy city scene. People are milling about, some are seated a café or pub. But, on the right, we see a crowd watching an elaborate puppet show performed by five actors on an elevated platform.

Several examples of Langendijk’s work are part of the Royal Collection. The majority of them appear to present military scenes—a subject frequently depicted by the Dutch artist. He did, however, finish several city scenes such as this one and also was known for his romantic genre paintings.

Painting of the Day: Cecil van Haanen's Head of a Young Girl, c. 1870

Head of a Young Girl
Cecil can Haanen
Venice, 1870
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Cecil van Haanen ((1844-after 1873) was a Dutch painter who was actually born in Vienna.  The son of the painter Remigius van Haanen (1812-1894), Cecil trained with his father and Joseph Henri François van Lerius (1823-1876) in Antwerp and at the Academy in Karlsruhe in 1863-64. In 1873, Cecil is known to have returned  to Venice and , then, subsequently lived in England and Vienna.  His date of death remains unknown.

This attractive painting is a fine example of Cecil van Haanen's oeuvre--genre scenes especially those of Venetian country life with many collective or single portraits of young Venetian woman.  These portraits were Cecil’s main point of interest and he created a good many of them—trying to capture the naturalness and spontaneity of these young women.

Here, we see the head of a dark-haired, brown-eyed Venetian girl who is depicted looking towards the spectator. She is adorned in a pinkish hat which has been tied under her chin with red ribbons.  Across her shoulders has been draped a white garment.

The broken brushwork is typical of can Haanen’s work., as is the overall brownish red palette.  Touches of pure black, white, and light yellow add interest.