Lot 15: Jacobus Vonck (active c. 1717-1773 Middelburg)

Jacobus Vonck (active c. 1717-1773 Middelburg)
Two loggerhead shrikes on a reed cage, apples, peaches, grapes, pears, red berries and cherries together with flowers hanging from a vase, a butterfly and great tits, all on a marble ledge
signed and dated 'JS Vonk/fecit 1760' (lower right)
oil on canvas, unlined
85.2 x 76.3 cm.

In the possession of the family of the present owner since the 19th century.

Jacobus Vonck was a pupil of Aert Schouman. He was active in Middelburg where he specialized in decorative paintings such as chimney pieces and overdoors. The present lot may have been part of a decorative program. Four other, very similar compositions are known, all painted in 1760 with the same measurements (see A.J. van Dissel, 'Het werk van de Middelburgse decoratieve schilder Jacobus Vonk', in Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 1985, pp. 303-4). Two pictures are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and another was sold with Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 4 November 2003, lot 98.