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| Jacob van Walscapelle (Dordrecht 1644 - Amsterdam 1727)
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| A still life of flowers and a branch of peaches in a sculpted vase, on a ledge
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Signed lower left: J: Walscapell
Oil on canvas
21 ¿ x 18 in. (54.3 x 45.7 cm.)
Provenance: Nordest Gallery; By whom (anonymously) sold ("Property of a Lady"), New York, Sotheby's, March 6, 1975, lot 79; There purchased by Newhouse Galleries, New York; With Richard Green Gallery, London, 1975/76; With Kunsthandel K & V Waterman, Amsterdam; From whom purchased by the previous collector in 1990.
Literature: W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1980, vol. III, reproduced p. 1451
Born in Dordrecht in 1644 under the name of Jacob Cruydenier, the artist adopted his grandmother's surname. In 1660 his sister married Ottmar Elliger (1633-1679), a Swedish-born still life painter working in Amsterdam at the time. However, when van Walscapelle settled in Amsterdam, he became a pupil of Cornelis Kick (1635-81) from 1664 to 1667. Van Walscapelle also held municipal posts there and is known to have given up painting at a relatively early age. There are almost no dated paintings after 1685, which confirms Arnold Houbraken's statement that van Walscapelle only painted for a short time. His latest dated painting is 1699.
Like many of his contemporaries, van Walscapelle responded to the profound changes developing in contemporary still life painting, led by the Antwerp artist, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1683/4). The vanitas theme that was so popular in early examples of the genre had receded and, with the works of van Walscapelle, Ruysch, Mignon and van Huysum, an interest in the decorative overtook the earlier emphasis on moralizing iconography. In our work van Walscapelle shows a strong command of colour and lighting, which is used to order the composition and create a convincing sense of three-dimensionality. He puts the brighter, stronger tones at the front of the composition, and the more muted ones towards the back, thus creating a sense of recession within the painting. Although compact, the arrangement of flowers is not densely populated, creating a harmonious composition of curves and rounded shapes. A variety of exquisitely painted flowers, not only demonstrate van Walscapelle’s skill as a painter, but also show the viewer the array of luxury tulips, roses, lilies, poppies and anemonies which were highly sought after and rare during the period. Our work can be compared with a slightly larger signed floral still life of 1667, in the Victoria and Albert museum, London.
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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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