Lot 39: GERRIT VAN VUCHT ROTTERDAM (?) 1610 - 1697 SCHIEDAM

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

A VANITAS STILL LIFE OF BOOKS, A CANDLESTICK, AN INK WELL, AN HOUR-GLASS, A GLASS BOTTLE, A FLUTE, A SKULL AND OTHER OBJECTS, ALL ON A TABLE DRAPED WITH A GREEN CLOTH

measurements note
21.3 by 25.7 cm.

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

With René Schreuder, Aerdenhout, by 1991 (exhibited at the Delft Art Fair);
With Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht, 2000, where bought by the present owner.

NOTE

Gerrit van Vucht was active from 1658 until his death in Schiedam as a painter and art dealer. Only a few signed or monogrammed still lifes are known, but his style is so consistent that around them a larger and cohesive oeuvre can be easily established. Characteristic of his work are small-scale, almost miniature still lifes of books, bottles and other objects placed against a large empty wall.

His oeuvre must have been rather large, given the 27 paintings by him recorded in the inventory of the widow of the Rotterdam painter and art dealer Crijn Volmarijn (ca. 1604-1645).

This picture was formerly attributed to Edwaert Collier, ca. 1692 (according to a label on the reverse).