Adriaen Coorte

Possibly Daniël Schorer, clerk at the court of Flanders, Middelburg;
Possibly his sale Middelburg, 15 April 1771, either no. 49 or 50: 'A. Coorte. Een fraay Fruytstukje 10½ [x] 8 [duim = 26.2 x 20 cm]' and 'Een dito niet minder als 't voorgaande, zynde een weerga 10½ [x] 8 [duim = 26.2 x 20 cm]' (see previous lot, note 2);
In the family of the present owner for at least a 100 years.

Q. Buvelot, 'Toevoegingen aan het oeuvre van Adriaen Coorte (werkzaam c.1683-1707)', in Oud Holland (forthcoming).

"The following condition report has been provided by L.L.C. van Wassenaer, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. All observations for this report were made with the naked eye. VARNISH The varnish layer appears to be of a natural resin. The varnish has yellowed and darkened. It has also lost its shine and the structure has opened. This makes a very fine craquelures in the varnish layer. There are several scratches in the varnish layer; upper right, through the butterfly, lower left near and through the apricot but these are not damaging the paint layer. There hardly seems to be any superficial dirt. PAINT LAYER The oil paint has been applied with a brush. The paint has been applied overall thinly with nice highlights with thicker impasto’s. The paint layer is very dry in the red areas, like in the two apricots to the left, with slight flaking. Otherwise the paint layer seems to be stable. There is a very fine craquelures visible in the paint layer overall. UNDER DRAWING Not visible in this state with the observation of the naked eye. ACTUAL CONDITION OF THE CARRIER The paint has been applied on paper. This paper has been glued on to an oak wood panel. The panel has been hand bevelled in a crossing direction. We can see that the paper is delaminating in some areas showing small bubbles. This can be seen in two places; middle right and right in the centre. Then two more tiny ones, only visible with raking light. The paper has been damaged by the edges in some places, in the right upper edge and locally by the right lower edge. The panel has its grain going in horizontal direction. The panel is slightly warping. The lower edge (approx.1 cm. wide over the width of the painting) has been eaten by woodworm and has therefore weakened obviously. Some small pieces have broken of the panel, therefore the paper also got the edges damaged in these areas. A small piece from the lower right corner was glued back on. THE FRAME The frame is made out of oakwood, painted black with gold painted flowery details. The painting is held in to the frame with plain nails. These do not allow the panel to move like it wants’ to. This means the panel is not framed in the right way."
"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."

We are grateful to Quentin Buvelot, senior curator at The Mauritshuis, The Hague, for writing the following note:

Until 1689, Coorte made still lifes with various kinds of fruit and vegetables on a stone table, after which he appears to have stopped working temporarily; with the exception of Still life with a spray of gooseberries from 1693,¹ no dated paintings could be identified for the period 1689-1695. The present lot, a fruit still-life, is an important addition to Coorte's oeuvre, since it is dated 1692.

Many different kinds of seasonal fruit occur in Coorte's work. Strawberries and gooseberries occur with the greatest frequency (see previous lot). Apples and pears are completely absent from his extant work, and citrus fruit are the primary motif in only one work. Other fruit, such as peaches and apricots, are encountered more frequently. Coorte painted both primarily in combination with other fruit, but in two paintings from 1698 and 1704, apricots are the only subject. Peaches are the primary motif in three works dating from about 1693-1695, 1696 and 1705. In another painting, which was probably made after 1696, Coorte combined peaches and apricots, as he did here. In one still life from 1699, which is strikingly full of rich detail, Coorte painted apricots, peaches and grapes on a table, the only time his work features this combination. In one of Coorte's paintings, Still Life with Two Peaches and a Butterfly, painted about 1693-1695 (private collection), we see a peach that is painted like the one here (fig 1).²

Coorte devoted himself entirely to still lifes, scenes containing scarcely a single living creature. One occasionally sees a butterfly, the earliest examples being paintings from 1685. Here the painter included two butterflies in the scene. One of these insects appears to have just flown into the scene, enlivening the dark background and introducing more balance into the composition. The second butterfly is given a more static presentation by being depicted seen from above, with outstretched wings.

Characteristic for Coorte is that he painted on paper. Almost two-thirds of Coorte's oeuvre was painted on paper that was subsequently pasted to panels, or sometimes to canvas. In the case of 31 paintings, the paper was pasted to a panel, as is the case here as well as in that of the previous lot.

1. See Q. Buvelot, The still lifes of Adriaen Coorte (active c.1683-1707) with oeuvre catalogue, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle 2008, p. 88, cat. no. 12, reproduced.
2. Sale, London, Sotheby's, 5 July 2006, lot 36; op.cit., p. 92, cat. no. 17, reproduced.