Balthasar van der Ast

Harold L. Leger, London, until 1933;
His sale, New York, American Art Association, 2 March 1933, lot 75, to Grieve;
Fermor-Hesketh collection;
Purchased by Bernard Palitz post sale at Christe's London, 13 December 1991, lot 14.

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 work has been restored and the condition is very good. The lining on the reverse is perhaps 100 years old, but it is still very effective. The paint layer is clean, varnished and retouched to a very high degree of finish. Retouches are clearly visible under ultraviolet light in very small dots in the darker colors, including the background, but there are very few retouches in the lighter colors of the still life and shells on the table. The glazes are very much intact, and the condition is certainly impressive for a work on canvas from this period.
"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."

This unusually large canvas showcases van der Ast's extraordinary ability as a still life painter devoted to the meticulous rendering of surfaces, no matter what their size. It is one of only a small number of large-scale upright compositions of fruit or flowers painted by the artist in his entire career. One of the few comparable works of this type is a picture formerly in the Van Hoorn collection, and subsequently sold London, Sotheby's, 6 December 2006, lot 10. That work, similar to the present example, utilizes a similar basalt vase, with the entire composition partially framed with a curtain.

The extremely large shells featured at the base of this composition are particularly impressive. Van der Ast was one of the first northern still life specialists to incorporate shells as a central focus of the composition, due in no small part to their desirability among the Dutch collecting community. Shells had gained enormous popularly as exotic collectibles that formed part of the seventeenth century kunstkammer, and, like tulips, they were the subject of great monetary speculation. 

Van der Ast trained in Middelburg in the studio of his brother in law, Ambrosius Bosschaert, the Elder and, like his teacher, painted almost exclusively still lifes of flowers, fruit, and insects. As his career progressed, van der Ast moved out of Bosschaert's shadow by developing ever more elaborate and densely organized compositions. The dramatic light which imbues many of his compositions, the present example included, provide a strong sense of naturalism that was at the forefront of the still life genre. 

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, for confirming the attribution to van der Ast following first hand inspection of the original.