ANTWERP SCHOOL, CIRCA 1650'S | A BOUQUET OF NARCISSUS, PARROT TULIP, ROSES AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE ON A STONE PLINTH

Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 19 April 2000, lot 302 (as Follower of Nicolaes van Veerendael), for $82,063;

With Richard Green, London (as Simon Verelst);

Private collection, Europe. 

"As is common with 17th century still lifes, this beautiful bouquet is both highly realistic and pure fantasy, as these particular flowers would not all bloom at the same time. The bold colors against the dark background give the painting a modern feel that is very decorative."

Molly Harrington

Dr. Fred G. Meijer regards this beautifully preserved copper as an excellent example of the Antwerp School, executed sometime in the 1650s.The importance of the work having been painted in Antwerp, circa 1650s, is understandable only through the history of the city itself. By the sixteenth century Antwerp was the leading commercial and financial center of Europe, a power which it maintained through the middle of the seventeenth century. It further held a leading role in the art world. Paintings in Antwerp were regularly purchased by both the upper and middle classes, which ultimately led to wealthy individuals becoming “more than mere consumers. They developed into collectors and connoisseurs.”¹ Collecting came to be closely associated with the aristocracy, even if one had a mercantile background. Thus, it was viewed as a “noble activity” and art collecting in Antwerp took on a symbolic dimension. 1. B. Timmermans, “Networkers and Mediators in Seventeenth Century Antwerp Art World: the Impact of Collectors-Connoisseurs on Artistic Processes of Transmission and Selection” in Luxury in the Low Countries, Brussels 2010, pp. 111- 112, 114.