Lot 40: Willem van Aelst (Delft 1627-1686 Amsterdam)

Grapes, plums, figs and a melon, on a partly draped stone ledge signed and dated 'W.V.aelst.1653.' (strengthened?, lower left, on the stone ledge) oil on canvas 161/4 x 20 7/8 in. (41.2 x 53 cm.) PROVENANCE O. Richardson, 1892. Miss Baker (old label on the stretcher). By descent to the present owner. NOTES We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs, of this hitherto unknown painting by Van Aelst; he regards it is a 'fully characteristic work by Willem van Aelst, which fits perfectly for 1653' and notes that the bunch of grapes recurs in one of his still lifes of fruit in the Uffizi, Florence (in. no. 468). The date indicates that this picture was, like the Uffizi painting, executed in Italy, during the artist's sojourn there from 1649-1656, as court painter to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.