BF 47
BALTHASAR VAN DER AST
Middelburg 1593/94 – 1657 Delft
A still life of tulips, roses, irises, lily-of-the-valley, African marigolds and other flowers in a gold-mounted vase, with a lizard, a caterpillar and sea shells
Signed, lower left: .B. vander. Ast..
Panel: 17 1/8 x 12 ¾ in / 43.5 x 32.5 cm
Painted circa 1635-40
Provenance:
Brigadier Christopher Huxley., London;
Sale London, Christie’s, 12th December 1947, lot 63, £1.050 to Slatter;
with Eugene Slatter, London, 1948
Collection of Dr. Hans Wetzlar, Amsterdam, by 1952
Exhibited:
London, Eugene Slatter Gallery, Dutch and Flemish Masters, 1948, cat. no. 21
London, Royal Academy, Dutch Pictures, 1450-1750, Winter Exhibition 1952-53, cat. no. 134
Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Bloemenwereld, 1953, cat. no. 3
Laren, Singer Museum, Kunstschatten, 1959, cat. no. 22
Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Bloem en tuin in de Vlaamse kunst, 1960, cat. no. 8, illus.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, A world of flowers, 1963, cat. p. 116, illus.
Singer Museum, Laren, Modernen van toen, cat. no. 6
Amsterdam, Waterman Gallery, Masters of Middelburg, 1984, cat. no. 14, illus.
Literature:
L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty, Leigh-on-Sea 1960 (reprint 1980), p. 71, cat. no. 15
S. Segal in exh. cat. Masters of Middelburg, 1985, pp. 52, 61 (note 21)
M. Jager, Voorkeuren. Een particuliere collectie, Utrecht, 1985, p. 8, 9 (colour illus.)
Balthasar van der Ast was born in Middelburg in 1593 or 1594, where he was trained from c.1610 in the studio of his twenty-year-older brother-in-law and guardian Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621). He appears to have taken over the position of leading painter of still lifes of flowers and fruit in the North Netherlands soon after Bosschaert’s death in 1621. During the 1620s and 1630s, van der Ast’s domicile Utrecht was the main Dutch centre of flower painting; besides van der Ast, Roelant Savery, Johannes Baers, Jacob Marrel and Bosschaert’s sons worked there. In 1632 van der Ast himself moved to Delft where he married the following year. He died there in 1657.
Balthasar van der Ast was a highly prolific artist: the number of his known paintings well exceeds 150. They range from large canvases to tiny coppers and panels, usually executed in fine detail. A large portion of his oeuvre originated during the first half of the 1620s. This is also the best documented period of his activity, since he consistently signed and dated his works then, a habit he gave up in the following years, as far as dating is concerned.
Floral bouquets in a vase were among van der Ast’s most favoured subjects, which he adopted from Bosschaert the Elder. Like Bosschaert, van der Ast varied the vases in which he presented his floral bouquets. During the 1620s he mainly painted them in glass beakers of various kinds or in small porcelain vases. Only occasionally would he use a glass carafe with a foot mounted in metal, as here.[i] An early example of a vase which is very similar to the one portrayed in the present painting can be found in a still life that was with Richard Green Gallery in 1989. That painting should probably be dated around the time of van der Ast’s move to Delft.[ii] During his years in Utrecht, van der Ast’s floral still lifes had reflected the influence of Bosschaert. And although he created a certain degree of depth in his bouquets, the flowers mainly were arranged in one plane, parallel to the picture’s surface and giving the impression of an array of portraits of individual flowers. The background, certainly for the first half of the 1620s, remained relatively dark. Towards 1630, van der Ast’s backgrounds became lighter and by the time of his move to Delft the arrangement of his bouquets had become much more rounded and three-dimensional. The rendering became less graphic and more tonal, the arrangement less dense and more elegant and the composition as a whole became less crowded and more atmospheric. Next to Bosschaert’s impact on van der Ast’s floral still lifes, the influence of another well-known Utrecht flower painter, Roelant Savery (1576-1639), can be pointed out as well. The arrangement of the flowers, the distribution of colours in the composition and the placement of a lizard at the foot of the vase here clearly recall Savery’s work rather than that of Bosschaert.[iii]
The still life of flowers discussed here originated without doubt after van der Ast’s move to Delft.[iv] The arrangement of the bouquet, which suggests a rounded three-dimensionality, the light background and also the waxy texture of the flower petals are all characteristic of van der Ast’s later works. It bears similarities with flower paintings in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and in the National Gallery, London, the latter of which is also similar in size.[v] The general appearances of the National Gallery painting and this one are very similar, while with the one in Amsterdam it shares some very similar – though not identical – and similarly rendered flowers. Many of van der Ast’s still lifes of shells, another of his favourite subjects, will also have originated around the same time. The murex shell to the right of the vase was probably modelled on the same example van der Ast portrayed in shell still lifes in Rotterdam (photocopy enclosed) and Dresden.[vi] Both shells probably came from the Indo-Pacific Ocean and were imported by the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) and were costly collectors’ items.
Although a perfectly convincing and seemingly realistic image, van der Ast must have composed this painting with the aid of preparative studies of individual flowers: several species rendered here could not be seen together during the same season, and must have been based on individual flower studies.
Floral still lifes such as this one most of all appear to celebrate the versatility of God’s creation, which is here for mankind to enjoy. Also, through the brief period during which a flower’s bloom can be enjoyed, the artist also reminds the viewer of his own transitory existence. In addition, if one wishes, the four elements – which also make up Creation – can be recognised: the flowers and the stone ledge represent Earth, the water in the vase and the sea shells, Water, and the flying insects Air, while the glass vase, as a product of that element can be taken to represent Fire, while the lizard, too, is often associated with that element. Most important, however, for contemporary viewers as well as for us today, is the illusionism with which the artist presents a seemingly realistic bouquet of flowers in all its refined details.