Lot 105: Jan Jansz. den Uyl the Elder , Utrecht c. 1595 - 1639/40 Amsterdam Still life with a tazza and bread roll on a pewter plate on a draped ledge oil on panel

signed with the artist's device of an owl on the center of the tazza oil on panel

measurements note 13 5/8 by 12 3/4 in.; 34.7 by 32.5 cm

For many years prior to Pieter de Boer's groundbreaking article on the artist published in Oud Holland in 1940, the body of den Uyl's work was adulterated by mis-attributions to other artists of monochrome banketjes school such as Willem Claesz. Heda. Since "retrieved from forgetfulness" thanks to de Boer's research, den Uyl is now recognised as an important and highly accomplished exponent of early Dutch still life. Though he produced a few landscapes and animal paintings, his works consisted principally of monochrome banketjes, or "banquet pieces", and were much sought after by contemporaries, including the artist Peter Paul Rubens (see J. M. Muller, Rubens: The Artist as Collector, Princeton, 1989, p. 143, nos. 302-304).

The present, previously unknown, panel is a fine example of den Uyl's sophisticated aesthetic. Distanced from the abundance of later still life works, the scene is focused upon a few essential elements in a striking minimalist composition, evidently popular with contemporary taste and repeated by den Uyl in two identical arrangements, sold New York, Sotheby's, January 11, 1996, lot 101 and New York, Sotheby's, January 24, 2002, lot 231.

Consistent with the monochrome banketjes manner, the panel is characterised by a limited colour palette of black, greys and browns. Through remarkable observation and meticulous brushwork den Uyl focuses attention upon the minutiae of texture with a particular sensibility to the reflections and refractions of light upon metallic surfaces. The composition equally handles states of disequilibrium and imbalance as the tazza rests precariously on the rim of the pewter plate and the plate itself sits close to the table edge.

In the centre of the tazza, the panel is signed with den Uyl's signature motif of an owl, which played the dutch word for owl uil and was incorporated into almost all of his known works.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for having endorsed the attribution to Jan Jansz. den Uyl the Elder and for suggesting a date of circa 1635.