Ernst Stuven

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 11 April 1991, lot 77 (as by Stuven, bearing a false Ruysch signature);
There purchased by the present collector.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored. The frame does not suit the painting, but the painting itself is in healthy state. There is a group of restorations in the center of the left side and another in the center of the right side; both groups are in the foreground. In the dark red peony in the lower right and the other peony in the upper center there has been some weakness to the color which has received retouching. The canvas is lined and the painting is well varnished.
"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 Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague for confirming this painting to be a work by Stuven, on the basis of a photograph.

Stuven was born in Hamburg where his first teacher was the still life painter Georg Hinz.  According to the biographer Arnold Houbraken, after relocating to Holland he was a pupil of of Willem van Aelst in Amsterdam and, later, Abraham Mignon in Utrecht.  He eventually worked on his own in Amsterdam, specializing in lush flower and fruit still lifes that echo many of the motifs of his teachers.