Lot 22: PIETER VAN DE VENNE

STILL LIFE OF ROSES, TULIPS, IRISES AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE, WITH BUTTERFLIES, SEA SHELLS AND A POCKET WATCH, ALL ARRANGED IN A STONE NICHE

97.2 by 76.8 cm.

oil on canvas

The Burlington Magazine, no. LXXV, July 1939, p. 8, as by Maria van Oosterwijck (advertisement).

With Eugene Slatter, London, 1939 (as by Maria van Oosterwijck);
Mrs. H. Inns;
Her deceased sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 November 1968, lot 246 (as by Maria van Oosterwijck, signed and dated 1667), where purchased by Richard Green, London;
Anonymous sale, New York, William Doyle Galleries, 23 January 2002, lot 148;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 29 May 2003, lot 32 (as by Pieter Adriaensz. van de Venne).

Pieter van de Venne was born in Middelburg. In 1625 he moved to The Hague where he studied under his father, the well-known painter of landscapes and genre scenes Adriaen Pietersz. van Venne, and where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1639 he joined the Saint Luke's Guild in The Hague and in 1656 he became one of the co-founders of the Confrerie Pictura. Although in a 1681 Amsterdam inventory a piece with turnips by Van de Venne is mentioned (1), he mainly painted well-composed flower pieces and the small number of his works known to date is of consistently high quality.

This lavish flower piece was formerly attributed to Maria van Oosterwijck, but was correctly reattributed to Pieter Adriaensz. van de Venne by Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D., The Hague. Significantly, it was not until recently that this painting was restored into its original design: both the niche, which adds to the spatial depth of the composition, and the delicate and meticulously detailed sea shells on the right have reappeared, demonstrating the artist's profound understanding of different materials and textures.

The simple spherical glass vase was evidently a favourite motif of the artist, as it appears on most of his extant flower pieces.

1. See A. van der Willigen and F.G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 202.