CORNELIS VAN DER MEULEN | VANITAS STILL LIFE WITH A SKULL, A GUTTERING CANDLE, A TORTOISESHELL MIRROR, A BOOK, A STATUETTE OF SAINT SUSANNA, AND A PACK OF CARDS

Probably Törnhjelm, 1742:

Major F. Bensow, Norrköping, circa 1951;

Anonymous sale, Stockholm, Bukowski, 28 October 1985, lot 518;

With Trafalgar Galleries, London, 1995;

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 15 October 1998, lot 1, when acquired.

O. Granberg, Inventaire générale des trésors d'art en Suède, vol. I, Stockholm 1911, p. 19;

B. Rapp, Djur och Stilleben i karolinskt maleri, Stockholm 1951, pp. 69–70, cat. no. 5, reproduced fig. 37;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 178–81, cat. no. 37, reproduced in colour.

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Very little is known about this artist, although he was probably a pupil of Samuel van Hoogstraten, and moved to Sweden in 1678. The statuette of the virgin martyr Saint Susanna is based on a sculpture by Francois Duquesnoy (1597–1643) which was executed for the altar of Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome. This statue was little known until the 18th century, so it seems probable that van der Meulen also travelled to Rome at some point.