A festoon of flowers hanging from a red ribbon in a stone niche with a bird's nest signed 'Jan Van Huysum fecit' (lower left) oil on canvas 20 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (52.1 x 39.4 cm.)
London, Art Treasures Exhibition, 1928. Spencer House, London, 1994-2006 (on loan).
Literature
J. Smith, Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonné etc., XI, London, 1842, p. 788, no. 12, 'A Cluster of Flowers, composed of roses of different hues, tulips, marigolds, anemone, convovulus, auriculas, suspended by the stalks and attached at the top by a ribbon. A hedge sparrow's nest, containing blue eggs, lies on a slab beneath. This exquisite work of Van Huysum is painted on a light ground'. C. Hofstede de Groot, Verzeichnis der Weke, etc., X, Stuttgart and Paris, 1928, p. 370, no. 165. M.H. Grant, Jan van Huysum 1682-1749, Leigh-on-Sea, 1954, p. 25, no. 126 (present owner unknown).
Provenance
Monsieur Dubois; sale, Paillet, Paris, 7-11 December 1840, lot 114, 'Des fleurs suspendues par un ruban pendent sur un fond d'embrasure de croisée. Ce bouquet est formée de roses des trois plus belle couleurs, d'une tulipe, d'un oeilet et d'autres fleurs éclantes. Dans ce tableau, qui a fait aussi partie de la collection de Middelbourg, l'imitation est portée aussi loin qu'il est possible de la concevoir, et la superiorité d'execution se magnifique dans toute sa valeur; c'est la perfection, autant qu'il est permis aux hommes de s'y élever', 50 x 38 cm. (sold 6000 francs to Nieuwenhuys). Henry du Pré Labouchere, M.P., subsequently 1st and last Baron Taunton (1798-1869), Quantock Lodge, Somerset. The Hon. Sir John Ward, K.C.V.O. (1870-1938), Dudley House, Park Lane, after 1927, and by descent to the present owner.
Notes
THE PROPERTY OF A FAMILY TRUST
This picture has the remarkable distinction of being the artist's only known pure flower piece in which the flowers have not been depicted arranged in a vase. It seems extraordinary that within an oeuvre thought to comprise of around 240 still lifes, this is the sole example in which van Huysum experimented beyond his usual compositional formula for flowers. Dr. Sam Segal, to whom we are grateful, has confirmed this anomaly, observing, with reference to the present work, in his forthcoming exhibition catalogue on Jan van Huysum (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Spring 2007) that we 'know of only one flower still life by Jan van Huysum that is not a flower piece with flowers in a vase but a festoon'. Segal dates the picture to 1730-5, a period in which the artist produced many of his most acclaimed works and cemented his reputation as the greatest Dutch still-life painter of the eighteenth century.
Jan van Huysum achieved his fame by his exceptionally accurate attention to the details of the objects he depicted. He was rigorous in striving for scientifically exact depictions of individual flowers; contemporary accounts reveal that he only worked from direct models and that he would leave a picture for months at a time until the required flower came into bloom. This explains why several of his pictures are dated twice, for example the Flowers in a Terracotta Vase (National Gallery, London, inv. no. 796), which is dated 1736 and 1737. Van Huysum was notoriously discreet about his technique. He was celebrated by his early biographers for his secrecy, bordering later in life on paranoia, concerning his artistic practice. Even his own brothers were forbidden from his studio for fear that anybody, however close, might see how he mixed and applied his paints. He only employed one pupil in his life, Margaretha Havermann (1720-1795) and that exception, made according to Christian Josi (Collection d'imitations des dessins d'aprés les principaux maîtres hollandais et flamands, etc., Amsterdam/London, 1821) was because of the pleadings of his uncle only exacerbated his fears. Thereafter van Huysum became ever more secretive, the dissolute activities of his son apparently driving him almost to becoming a recluse.
Twenty-three flower varieties are depicted in the present picture along with four insect types (also the object of careful study), and a dunnock's nest rendered with almost unimaginable exactitude. Van Huysum did not shy here from revealing the full extent of his technical virtuosity: he shows the veins in the flower petals and leaves, the individual filaments in the flower heads and water droplets on the flowers that combine to achieve an almost hyper-realistic impression. This effect was not lost on the picture's beholders in 1840, when it last appeared at auction, where it was said of it that 'L'imitation est portée aussi loin qu'il est possible de la concevoir...c'est la perfection, autant qu'il est permis aux hommesde s'y élever' (see provenance). John Smith described it as 'an exquisite work' two years later.
1. White and violet Auricula Primula x pubescens albo-violacea 2. Dark violet Auricula Primula x pubescens atropurpurea 3. Crysanthcmum? Crysanthemum spec. 4. Dwarf Morning Glory Convolvus tricolour 5. White Meadow Cranesbill Geranium pratense album 6. Double Garden Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus plenum 7. Double orange Pot Marigold Calendula officinalis plena aurantiaca 8. Long-leaved Speedwell Veronica longifolia 9. White Rose hybrid Rosa x alba plena x R. gallica 10. White Rose Rosa x alba subplena 11. Tazetta Narcissus Narcissus tazetta 12. Poppy Anemone Anemone coronaria pseudoplena 13. Yellow Cabbage Rose Rosa x huysumiana 14. Cabbage Rose Rosa x centifolia 15. Blue Auricula Primula x pubescens coerulea 16. Pheasant's eye Adonis annua 17. Baguette Tulip Tulipa clusiana x T. stellata 18. Golden narcissus Narcissus tazetta subsp. aurea 19. Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum 20. Carnation Dianthus caryophyllus bicolour 21. Batchelor's Buttons Ranunculus acris plenus 22. Moss cf. Isothecium myosuroides A. Silver-studded Blue Plebejus argus b. Ruby-tailed Wasp Chrysis ignites c. Yellow Meadow Ants (5) Lasius flavus d. Green Bottle-fly Lucilia Caesar e. Lesser House-fly Fannia canicularis X. Dunnock's nest with eggs prunella modularis
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