Lot 51: MARTINUS NELLIUS

MARTINUS NELLIUS ? BEFORE 1669 - 1719 THE HAGUE A STILL LIFE OF BLUE AND WHITE GRAPES, WALNUTS, A HALF-PEELED LEMON AND BLACKBERRIES IN A WAN-LI PORCELAIN BOWL, TOGETHER WITH A MOUSE, A BUTTERFLY AND OTHER OBJECTS bears signature lower right on the ledge: DD (in compendium) DE HEM , and inscribed on the piece of paper in the centre with a date: 1644 oil on canvas 67.7 by 54.3 cm.

Anonymous sale, Munich, Neumeister, 24-26 September 1969, lot 1448 (as by Jan Davidsz. de Heem).

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D., The Hague, for confirming the attribution to Martinus Nellius. Nellius, who is first documented in Leiden in 1674, and in The Hague from 1676 onwards, mainly painted small scale still lifes that usually depict fruit, flowers and glass- or stoneware.

The rendering of the grapes, the orange, the lemon and the quinces, with their somewhat blurry contours, in contrast to the detailed depiction of the porcelain and the butterflies, is very characteristic for the artist. Another distinct feature in many of Nellius' compositions, as in this painting, is the sheet of paper, often folded as a small paper bag in which tobacco was sold, inscribed with the word 'almanac'. See for example the one sold, London, Sotheby's, 5 July 2007, lot 149.