Jan Vermeulen

With William R. Drown, London;
With Bengt Rapp, Stockholm, 1958;
Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico, accession no. 65.0536, by 1965;
Anonymous sale ("Property of an Institution"), New York, Christie's, 18 May 1994, lot 71;
There purchased by the present collector.

J. Bernström and B. Rapp, Iconographica, Stockholm 1958, pp. 87-90, cat. no. XII, reproduced no. XI, reproduced p. 89 (detail of the signature);
J. Held, Catalogue I Paintings of the European and American Schools, Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico 1965, pp.184-185, reproduced p. 263, fig. 78;
J. Held, R. Taylor and J.N. Carder, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Fundación Luis A. Ferré, Catalogue, Paintings and Sculpture of the European and American Schools, Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico 1984, p. 312, reproduced p. 313;
F. Meijer and A. van der Willigen, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 206.

The painting is slightly brighter than it appears in the catalogue illustration. For a high resolution digital image, please refer to the online catalogue at Sothebys.com or contact a member of the Old Master Paintings department. 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 elaborate and detailed picture has been painted on an oak panel which seems to be made from a single piece of wood. This beautiful piece of wood has remained flat, has supported the paint layer well and luckily the paint itself is in lovely condition. The painting is quite dirty and although on top of this yellowed varnish a few isolated retouches are visible in the upper left and right, essentially there are no real retouches visible at present. When the picture is cleaned it seems highly unlikely that any further losses or restorations become apparent and this is clearly a picture in remarkable 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."

Dutch painter Jan Vermeulen specialized in vanitas still lifes, of which the present work is a fine example.    He often included musical instruments, large open folio volumes, and tankards in his compositions, this elaborately detailed painting is unusual for the artist being the only known dated still life in his oeuvre.  One of the leading vanitas painters in 17th century Haarlem, his works were highly regarded for their immaculate realism.  Here we see the artist's remarkable ability to replicate the effects of light on various surfaces, absorbed by the smooth, porous surface of the bone and dry, curling papers while in contrast reflecting brightly from the gleaming jewelled crown and shimmering pearls beside them.

Listed in the 1651 Haarlem guild records under the name Johannes van der Meulen, he is is also identifiable with the Monogramist IVM.¹ 

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for endorsing an attribution to Vermeulen on the basis of photographs.

1.  See Meijer 2003 under Literature, op. cit., p. 206.