Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam;
Mrs. Anna Scripps Whicomb, Detroit;
By whom given to The Detroit Institute of Arts in 1935; 
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, January 30, 1997, lot 29, for $134,000 to the present owner.

Indianapolis, John Herron Institute; San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, Young Rembrandt and his Times, 1958, cat. no. 77 (as by Bosschaert the Younger).   

W.R. Valentiner, Bulletin of the DIA, vol. 15, no. 3, 1936, p. 47, reproduced (as by Bosschaert the Elder);
E. Scheyer, Baroque Painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit 1937, p. 59 (as by Bosschaert the Elder);
The Detroit Institute of Art, Catalogue of Paintings, Detroit 1944, p. 15, no. 439 (as by Bosshaert the Elder);
J.S. Berral, A History of Flower Arrangement, London 1953, p. 32, reproduced fig. 31 (as by Bosschaert the Elder); 
E.P. Richardson, Catalogue of the Whitcomb Gifts, London 1954 (as by Bosschaert the Younger);
L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty, Painters of Flowers and Fruit, Leigh-on-Sea 1960, p. 92 (as by Bosschaert the Younger);
The Detroit Institute of Arts, A Checklist of Paintings, Detroit 1965, p. 16 (as by Bosschaert the Younger).
 

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is in a good condition, apart from a small hair line split , lower right corner, which is unstable. The paint layer is flat and secure. Under Ultra-Violet light a small scattering of retouchings can be seen across the surface, particularly in the background, where they replace minor paint losses, thinnesses and reduce the more obvious wood grain effect. The still life is in good condition and much of the paint is well preserved. Some of the more vulnerable glazes , e.g. the reds to the roses and those on the cut stems , the frog, the fly and the shadow of the ledge , have been compromised and appear a little thin. Removing the slightly discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in an ebonised frame in good condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Ambrosius the Younger was the eldest son of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, the earliest great specialist in flower painting in Northern Europe.  As Bol notes in The Bosschaert Dynasty (see Literature), "... the composition and style [of the present lot] are typical of the early works of Ambrosius the Younger."  In its compact and formal arrangement of flowers, viewed from a slightly elevated vantage point, the painting strongly adheres to the principles of his father and therefore reflects the widely accepted observation that Bosschaert was strongly under his father's stylistic influence prior to 1634. This work was in fact long considered to be by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, for endorsing the attribution to Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger.