Lot 311: TOMÁS HIEPES

TOMÁS HIEPES BORN CIRCA 1610 - 1674 VALENCIA TERRACOTTA VASE WITH AN ORANGE BUSH IN FLOWER oil on canvas 33 3/4 by 26 3/8 in.; 85.8 by 67 cm.

The present still-life is consistent with other formally arranged, frontal compositions by Hiepes which focus on a single vase with crisply rendered flowering plants. Also typical is the artist's use of muted brown and red colors, employed using a strong sense of chiaroscuro. Certain elements in the present work can also be found elsewhere in Hiepes' oeuvre, in fact, the arrangement of flowers and the vase can be found separately in a pair of paintings which were sold New York, Sotheby's, 11 January 1990, lot 168. Interestingly, Hiepes has here combined those elements into a single composition. The artist was known to have reused motifs, and this type of flower arrangement can be seen in a number of Hiepes' works, for instance in his Porcelain Flowerpot-Stand or Window-Box With Strawberry Plants (see A. Sánchez and B. Navarrete Prieto, Thomas Yepes, exhibition catalogue, Valencia 1995, p. 116, reproduced in color).