Lot 20: JOHANNES BOUMAN

A STILL LIFE WITH GRAPES, APPLES, A QUINCE AND PEARS ON A WAN-LI PORCELAIN DISH, TOGETHER WITH MEDLARS, GOOSEBERRIES, CHERRIES AND PEACHES, ALL ON A STONE LEDGE WITH A ROEMER

53.6 by 108.5 cm.

oil on panel

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 9 May 2006, lot 17.

Not much is known about the artist's life, other than that he is recorded in Amsterdam by 1622 and in 1626, when he married a Dutch woman. His fruit still lifes are strongly influenced by Balthasar van der Ast (1593/4-1657), from whom he derived the distinctive colouring of the fruit and the handling of the light on the different materials. In this painting, the robust forms of the fruit and the rich colour contrast also attest to Bouman's own characteristic handling. Most of his still lifes, like the present one, are painted on panels of an elongated rectangular format.