Lot 26: JAN VERMEULEN

JAN VERMEULEN ACTIVE IN HAARLEM CIRCA 1652 - 1655 VANITAS STILL LIFE: SKULL WITH AN IVY WREATH, A CROWN, MONEY BAGS, AN HOURGLASS AND A BOOK OF SHEET MUSIC, PEARLS AND OTHER OBJECTS ON A STONE PLINTH signed and dated: J. V. Meulen . top right, and 1654 (on sheet music) oil on panel 28 7/8 by 22 3/4 in.; 73.3 by 57.8 cm.

J. Bernström and B. Rapp, Iconographica, Stockholm 1958, pp. 87-90, cat. no. XII, reproduced no. XI, reproduced p. 89 (detail of the signature);
J. Held, Catalogue I Paintings of the European and American Schools, Ponce, Puerto Rico 1965, pp.184-185, reproduced p. 263, fig. 78;
J. Held, R. Taylor and J.N. Carder, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Fundación Luis A. Ferré, Catalogue, Paintings and Sculpture of the European and American Schools, Ponce, Puerto Rico 1984, p. 312, reproduced p. 313;
F. Meijer and A. van der Willigen, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 206.

With William R. Drown, London;
With Bengt Rapp, Stockholm, 1958;
Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico, accession no. 65.0536, by 1965;
Anonymous sale ("Property of an Institution"), New York, Christie's, 18 May 1994, lot 71;
There purchased by the present collector.

Jan Vermeulen is recorded in the Haarlem guild records in 1651 under the name Johannes van der Meulen. By 1655 his name is recorded as Jan Vermeulen, though his name has also been listed as 'Monogramist IVM, while other records refer to an Isaac Vermeulen.(1) He specialized in vanitas still lifes which often include musical instruments, large open folio volumes, and tankards, of which the present is a fine example. This painting is the only known dated work by the artist.

Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague has confirmed the attribution to Vermeulen, on the basis of a photograph.

1. see Literature, Meijer 2003, p. 206.