Lot 69: JACOBUS LINTHORST

A STILL LIFE WITH A MELON, A POMEGRANATE, GRAPES, RASPBERRIES, PEACHES, TULIPS, EARS OF CORN, WALNUTS, A BUTTERFLY AND OTHER FRUIT AND FLOWERS IN A BASKET ON A STONE LEDGE;
A STILL LIFE OF GRAPES, WALNUTS, REDCURRENTS, TULIPS, DAFFODILS, STRAWBERRIES, A BUTTERFLY AND OTHER FRUIT AND FLOWERS IN AN URN ON A STONE LEDGE
the former signed and dated lower left: J Linthorst, 1812,;
the latter signed and dated lower right: J Linthorst, 1809,

each: approx. 59.2 by 45.3 cm.

a pair, both oil on panel

With Frost and Reed, London;
With Doic, Wilson and Wheatley, Edinburgh (according to an old label on the reverse).

Little is known about Jacobus Linthorst's artistic training, but the light palette, opulence and dazzling effects of his works clearly reflect the influence of Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) and Jan van Os (1744-1808), who are considered the most dominant Dutch flower painters of the 18th Century. Linthorst appears to have spent all his lifetime in his native town of Amsterdam and is recorded as a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1789. He was the teacher of the still life painter Jan Evert Morel (1769-1808).

This fruit and flower still life reveal Linthorst's fondness for dense and solid compositions of overlapping richness. Both paintings also demonstrate Linthorst's distinctive technique. He often used strong whites with thin strokes of colour, rather than glazing to a tinted colour, thus giving his pastel flowers and fruit a delicate and almost translucent appearance, as can be seen in particular in the grapes and cherries in this fruit still life.

The present fruit still life can be compared to another, signed and dated 1813, sold, New York, Sotheby's, 5 June 2008, lot 128, which displays a similar arrangement of motifs alike, whereas the flower still life can be compared to a work, signed and dated 1808, sold, London, Sotheby's, 16 December 1999, lot 57.