Lot 134: Catharina Ykens (Antwerp active 1635-after 1666)

Catharina Ykens (Antwerp active 1635-after 1666)
Flowers in a glass vase with a dragonfly on a ledge
signed, 'CATHRINA YKENS FECI,' (lower center)
oil on panel
13 x 9 in. (33 x 22.9 cm.)

Only a handful of signed works exist by this artist, who until recently has been recognized as the daughter of the painter Jan Ykens (brother of the better known Frans). However, an entry in a 1661 Antwerp inventory listing a flower garland 'by the wife of Ijkens' has prompted Fred Meijer to identify her as Caterina Floquet -- the wife of Frans Ykens. She came from a large and well-known family of painters, being the daughter of Lucas Floquet and sister to three brothers who were artists, but until 2003 she had never been recognized as an artist in her own right. The small number of signed works by her are indeed very close in style to Frans Ykens; these include a Flower Garland surrounding a landscape (Madrid, Prado); a Flower Vase (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts); and a Garland surrounding a Portrait of a Gentleman (sold at Christie's, London, 1 November 1996, lot 8.)

We are grateful to Fred Meijer, of the RKD in The Hague, for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs (private communication, 10 December 2010).