Hans Bollongier

oil on panel
signed with monogram and dated: 'H.B. An.1638'

With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1934;
With P. de Boer, Amsterdam, by 1981;
Private collection, the Netherlands.

Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, Tulipomania, 5 April - 9 June 1974, no. 49;
Den Bosch, Het Noordbrabants Museum, Bloermrijk Verleden, 13 March - 11 April 1982, no. 45;
Osaka, National Museum of Art; Tokyo, Tokio Station Gallery; Tsukaba, Ibaraki Prefectural Museum; Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Flowers & Nature, 20 April - 31 October 1990, no. 40.

S. Segal, Flowers and Nature: Netherlandish Flower painting of Four Centuries, The Hague 1990, p. 196, cat. no. 40.

The panel is uncradled. Overall there is good preservation of the paint surface with lovely retention of detail in the flowers. Examination under UV light reveals a thin line of retouching along a central horizontal join that runs through the lower tulip at right through to the pink flower at left, and through another horizontal join that runs through the upper tulip. Other retouches can be seen in the background of the upper right quadrant and a few in the upper left background. There are some very small retouches to the pink flower at left and some tiny ones on the some of the flowers lower center. These have all been well applied and there is no need for further work. Offered in a faux ebony wood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Hans Bollongier was one of the few flower painters in Haarlem in the first half of the seventeenth century, and little is known about his life.  The present picture is one of his earlier works, though he had already begun to reduce the range of color in his compositions by this time, moving into a more monochromatic style which would define his later career.  As in most paintings by Bollognier, the glass vase is just a bit too small for the large flowers that come out of it, and he places smaller, short-stemmed flowers at the base of the bouquet to balance it out.  Overall it creates a grand composition on a small panel, complimented by a small sprig of stock and two water droplets upon the ledge below the vase. 

The painting will be included as cat. no. 7.26 in Sam Segal's forthcoming book Flower pieces from the Northern and Southern Netherlands from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – paintings, drawings and prints, to be published by Brill in Leiden in 2018.