Isaak Soreau

With J.O. Leegenhoeck, Paris, 1972;
Acquired by the late father of the present owner, probably from the above.

E. Greindl, Les Peintres Flamands de Nature Morte au XVIIe Siècle, Brussels 1983, p. 383, cat. no. 22, reproduced, p. 310, fig. 226;
G. Bott, Die Stillebenmaler Soreau, Binoit, Codino und Marrell in Hanau und Frankfurt 1600-1650, Hanau 2001, p. 189, cat. no. WV.UIS.c, reproduced.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on a firm panel presumably of oak. There is one central joint, which has been reglued and retouched fairly recently. The back of the panel has also quite recently been primed. This priming shows old underlying newsprint where a small place has been chipped away. Old darkened patches of damp show through the priming, although a smallish area of slightly distorted paint at the upper centre in the background of the painting is not reflected behind. However whatever any old stains behind may once have signified, the panel does now appear to be stable, strong and flat. The still life itself is largely in beautiful condition. The fine crisp detail of the basket and the vine leaves in particular are miraculously perfect and unworn. Only the darker part of the upper leaf is slightly thin and darkened by the copper resinate which has turned brown. Elsewhere the characteristic clarity and light touch of the fruit is also mainly finely preserved. Only in the grapes has the delicate play of reflections and colour started to fall apart with wear to a greater or lesser extent. The upper background has one smallish patch with some retouching (mentioned above at the upper centre) but elsewhere a thin layer of older varnish has been left undisturbed. The ledge below has had the most attention in the past, with various past interventions, several old and recent restorations can be seen under ultra violet light on both sides of the basket, largely leaving the still life itself finely intact. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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."

Very few works by Soreau are signed. Gerhard Bott lists five, of which three are signed in full and two signed with initials, and he identified three dated pictures, two from 1638 and one from 1645.¹ He was the son of Daniel Soreau, a wool merchant from Antwerp who emigrated to Frankfurt and later Hanau, and who is recorded by Sandrart as having taken up painting, although no work survives of him. Isaak's twin brother Peter Soreau was also a still life painter, but his few known works are more properly regarded as of the Hanau School, being influenced by Georg Flegel.

Isaak's entire secure oeuvre is close in style to Jacob van Hulsdonck, and although there is no documentary record of him there, he must have spent some time in Antwerp, probably in the studio of Jacob van Hulsdonck. Many of these works, including this one are composed of motifs found in Hulsdonck's work. One of his still lifes is known to have been painted on a panel with an Antwerp mark, and many of them, including this one, are on characteristically thin Flemish panels with prepared reverses to ward off warping.

Although only three works by Soreau are dated, some idea of chronology can be reached. Both works dated 1638 are very close to Hulsdonck in style and composition, while the still life of fruit from 1645 is much less Flemish and has more in common with the Hanau School, and the few works of his brother Peter.

1.  One reads 16.8, the third digit being illegible, but it is close in style to the other work from that year, and it is reasonable to assume that the missing digit is a 3. See Bott, under Literature, pp. 172, 187, 188, cat. nos. WV.IS.1, WV.IS.46, WV.IS.49, all reproduced.