Hoecke, Robert van den (attributed to)

Folio (415 x 290mm.), 279 fine watercolour and bodycolour botanical drawings arranged over two parts, contemporary manuscript contents (on different paper, with rare elephant watermark) and captions, contemporary calf, spine labelled "HERBARUS PICTUS A VAN HOECKE", silk ties, a few repairs, binding worn

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A beautiful and comprehensive florilegium, containing detailed studies of European flora including narcissi, irises, capsicums, and so on. The spine label, which is contemporary, gives the artist as “van den Hoecke”, and a previous owner has attributed this to the Flemish artist Robert van den Hoecke (1622–1668), who worked in the studio of Peter Paul Rubens (see nineteenth-century correspondence loosely inserted). He was the son of Gaspar van den Hoecke (c. 1585–after 1648) and the brother of Jan van den Hoecke (1611–1651), both of whom were also painters, and who might therefore also be considered as candidates for authorship.