2007 Catalogue - Colnaghi

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.
09
Jan van Huysum
(Amsterdam 1682 – 1749 Amsterdam)
Still-Life of Grapes and a Peach on a Table-Top
Signed lower centre: Jan van Huysum Fecit
Oil on canvas
15 1 /2 x 12 1 /2 in. (39.5 x 32 cm.)
36
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 classicising 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.