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| Jan van Huysum (Amsterdam 1682 - Amsterdam 1749)
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| Still-life of grapes and a peach on a table-top
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Signed lower centre: Jan van Huysum Fecit.
Oil on canvas
15 ½ x 12 ½ in. (39.5 x 32 cm.)
Provenance: Probably Defer-Dumesnil collection, Sale 5 October 1900, no. 12; Private collection, Limoges.
Jan van Huysum lived and worked in Amsterdam all of his life. He was the son of still-life painter, Justus van Huysum I who became his teacher until his death in 1716 after which his son’s reputation soared. By 1722 van Huysum had succeeded in developing a popular style, however, he was obsessively secretive about his methods, allowing no one to see him at work, not even his own brothers. It is not surprising therefore that he was very reluctant to take on pupils. The only one he did accept was Margareta Haverman (c.1716 - 1730), thanks to the persuasiveness of her persistent father. Van Huysum’s technique was painstaking; every brushstroke was applied with meticulous care. He insisted on working directly from nature, once writing to a patron to explain that her painting would be delayed a year because, unable to obtain a real yellow rose, he could not finish the picture. This extraordinary attention to detail, combined with the unprecedented use of lighter backgrounds and a brighter palette, created works of astonishing realism.
Van Huysum’s influence was to last into the nineteenth century and can be seen in the work of Jan van Os, Wybrand Hendriks and Gerard van Spaendonck. Van Huysum’s works were greatly sought after in his lifetime; he received commissions from, among others, the Duc d’Orleans, Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, Frederick-Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Frederick William I, King of Prussia.
Most of van Huysum’s two hundred and forty-one known still-lifes consist of luxuriantly composed flowers in a classicizing vase, standing on a stone plinth or a stone table, often with a bird’s nest. In his early works he uses a traditional and symmetrical composition bearing strong resemblance to the work of Cornelis de Heem and Abraham Mignon. His latter works, which show no apparent symmetry in their arrangements, are instead presented in S-shaped or diagonal compositions hence one can date the Colnaghi painting to the latter part of his oeuvre. Our work is comparable in composition to Fruit and flower still life in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
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P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd - 15 Old Bond Street London W1S 4AX, United Kingdom Tel: +44-20-7491 7408 Fax: +44-20-7491 8851 contact@colnaghi.co.uk
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