Isaak Soreau

T.W.H Wards, Hampstead, London, 1928;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 18 April 1980, lot 39 (as by J. van Hulsdonck); 
Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 10 July 1987, lot 7;
With Kurt J. Müllenmeister, Solingen, 1989;
Anonymous sale Vienna, Dorotheum, 4 March 1997, lot 200;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 18 October 2000, lot 131 (as circle of Isaac Soreau);
Anonymous sale, Zurich, Koller, 24 March 2006, lot 3033;
There purchased by the present owner. 

Murcia, El Museo de Siyâsa, Maestros de la pintura flamenca y holandesa del siglo XVII, May 1999, no. 15. 

R. Warner, Dutch and Flemish Flower and Fruit Painters of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, Amsterdam 1928, p. 204-5, plate 97b;
G. Bott, 'Stillebenmalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts. Isaak Soreau, Peter Binoit,' in Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein, 1962, Werkverzeichnis Soreau no. 1;
G. Bott, Ein Stück von allerlei Blumenwerk, ein stück von Früchten, zwei Stück auf Tuch mit Hecht: die Stillebenmaler Soreau, Binoit, Codino und Marrell in Hanau und Frankfurt 1600-1650, Hanau 2001, cat. no. WV.IS.12, p. 175, reproduced in color, pp. 100-101. 

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 on a single piece of wood, presumably oak, is quite presentable in its current state. However, the varnish is uneven, and the paint layer is slightly dirty. The paint layer is stable, although some slight cracking has developed in the left side of the background and still life. Under ultraviolet light and to the naked eye, there do not appear to be any retouches of any note. This is certainly a picture that would respond well to cleaning. There is some thinness in the background in the upper left that will require attention, and the shadow of the plate on the table is also slightly uneven. With proper and careful restoration, the work would improve noticeably.
"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."

Like so many of Soreau's still lifes, this painting bears the unmistakable influence of the Antwerp painter Jacob van Hulsdonck and it is widely considered that Soreau spent some time in his studio. Not being a member of the guild there, Soreau would not have been able to sell his paintings under his own name and, so close is his style to Hulsdonck's, it is likely that his paintings were sold in that city as the work of his master.

Soreau was probably still in Antwerp in 1638 as a work dated to that year is a partial copy of a painting by Hulsdonck from circa 1615.¹  His only other dated work is from 1645² but by this time Soreau must have been back in Frankfurt as the painting is quite different from his earlier work and instead is clearly influenced by the leading Frankfurt still-life painter, Georg Flegel. 

Soreau was born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, and was the son, and probably the pupil, of Daniel Soreau, a painter, architect and wool merchant who had emigrated from Tournai to Frankfurt by 1586. After Daniel's death in 1619 his studio was placed in the hands of Sebastien Stosskopf and it is probable that Isaak, together with his twin brother Peter (1604-before 1672), trained under him before Isaak moved to Antwerp after 1626. 1. Sold New York, Sotheby's, 11 January 1996, lot 73.
2. See G. Bott, under Literature, p. 188, no. WV.IS.50, reproduced.