Lot 55: - Cornelis Jacobsz. Delff , Gouda 1570/71 - 1643 Delft Still life with apples and other fruit on a tazza, together with a glass of beer, a partly peeled apple, a knife and two bread rolls oil on panel

signed lower right: CJV (?) Delff ( CJV in ligature) oil on panel

measurements note 30 by 48.5 cm.; 12 1/4 by 21 3/4 in.

Acquired by the present owner in March 1991.

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
Cornelis Delff was the son of Jacob Willemsz. Delff the Elder (circa 1550-1601) and initially studied under his father in Delft. He then moved to Haarlem where he worked under Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562-1638), before returning to Delft in 1610 where he remained for the rest of his life. After his teacher Cornelis, Delff was amongst the first artists in the Northern Netherlands to paint kitchen and market scenes with figures and sprawling still lifes, a type which had been conceived by Amsterdam's Pieter Aertsen during his years in Antwerp. Progressing from these kitchen scenes, he began to paint only the still life elements and developed compositions with pots and pans, game and fruit. This meticulously detailed still life is a fine example of Delff's work and shows the artist's skill in describing different textures using light and shade, in particular where the reflection of the apples can be seen in the polished tazza. The treatment of the apple skins in this painting can be compared with that in other signed works by the artist, notably his Still life of fruit and shells sold London, Sotheby's, 28 October 1992, lot 14, and his Kitchen Still Life sold Vienna, Dorotheum, 2 October 2002, lot 121.