Franciscus Gijsbrechts

Jacques Heinrich Bassenge I (1776-1840), Dresden, by 1812;
Thence by descent to his son, Jacques Heinrich Bassenge II (1805-1893), Dresden;
Thence by descent to his daughter, Friederike Bassenge (1832-1901), Dresden;
Thence by descent to her daughter, Johanna Held, (1967-1923), Dresden, by 1926;
Thence by descent.

The actual painting is darker in tone and the colours are less bright than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas is unlined and somewhat loose in its stretcher. (Bullet) holes are repaired and visible to the reverse. Stretcher marks are visible to the front. An arched piece of canvas (max 15 cm in height) is attached to the upper part of the original canvas as well as a small horizontal strip to the bottom. Scattered spots of paint loss are visible throughout, especially along the left side and in the bottom part of the canvas where the paint has a tendency to flake. Marks of the filled holes are visible to the front as well as some retouched damages along the borders of the original canvas, as can be seen in the catalogue illustration. The paint surface suffered from dryness and is thin with a coarse and irregular craquelure pattern. The varnish layer is old and very dirty and seems to have been unevenly cleaned. Inspection under UV-light is largely impeded by the old varnish, however it confirms the aforesaid retouchings and reveals some scatterd retouchings throughout, e.g. in the centre to the right of the skull and in the painter's palette. Offered in a decorative gilt frame, in fair condition as can be seen in the catalogue illustration. (JD)
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Franciscus Gijsbrechts joined the Antwerp painter's guild in 1676. Although his works and those of the trompe l'oeil painter Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (active 1657-in or after 1684), who had joined the guild in 1660, show a remarkable similarity, their relation to each other is not entirely certain. Cornelis cannot be his father, as he was still a bachelor in 1659, therefore Franciscus was probably his nephew. Not much is known about his career and travels, but it seems highly likely that Franciscus accompanied Cornelis on his travels to Denmark. The fact that one of Franciscus' signed paintings turns up in inventory lists of the Kunstkammer of the Danish Court dated 1689 and 1737, suggests that he too had contact with the Danish Court.¹He was also most likely in Leiden in 1674.²

In this painting we see a trompe l'oeil of a vanitas still life painting leaning against a wooden wall, accompanied by objects of a painter's workshop, such as the pallette and the brushes. Trompe l'oeils such as this, represent a small part of his oeuvre, as Franciscus focused more on pure vanitas paintings. It can be compared to a work by Cornelis, in the Statens Museum, Copenhagen (inv. no.  242), which shows a similar composition and is also accompanied by painterly attributes (see fig. 2). Both artists indeed used the same range of objects in their paintings. Typical for Franciscus is the skull with the open jaw in which often the same document is folded, together with other precious objects, see for example the one which was sold, Milan, Finarte, 8/9 June 1983, lot 687 (see fig. 1). 

The painting has an interesting history. According to tradition, while hanging at the residence of the Bassenge collection during the Battle of Dresden on 26/27 August 1813, it was riddled with bullets, as can still be observed in the restored canvas. The shaped top with a blue draped cloth and the lower edge are later additions.

1. O. Koetser, C. Brusati, Illusions: Gijsbrechts: Royal Master of Deception, Copenhagen 1999, p. 42. In this inventory list the painting was attributed to Cornelis, in spite of the signature by Franciscus.
2. A. van der Willigen en F. G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 90.