The Rafael Valls Sale, Part II
The Rafael Valls Sale, Part II
Jacques de Claeuw
Vanitas still life with a violin, a flute, a roemer, a crucifix, an inkwell, books, manuscripts and a wreath of flowers, on a dark cloth with a gold fringe
Lot Closed
December 16, 02:20 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Jacques de Claeuw
Dordrecht 1623 - 1694 Leiden
Vanitas still life with a violin, a flute, a roemer, a crucifix, an inkwell, books, manuscripts and a wreath of flowers, on a dark cloth with a gold fringe
signed and dated upper centre: JDClaeuw 1649
oil on panel
unframed: 84.4 x 67.2 cm.; 33¼ x 26½ in.;
framed: 101.5 x 83 cm.; 40 x 32¾ in.
Thence by descent;
Until sold ('The Property of the Marquess of Lothian'), London, Sotheby's, 8 December 2016, lot 105, for £38,000.
Newbattle Abbey inventory, March 1833, no. 538;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, May 1878, no. 538 (Passage);
C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Hollandsche Kunst in Schotland', in Oud Holland, 11, 1893, p. 215 (as hanging at Newbattle Abbey).
Apart from some rare domestic genre scenes, Jacques de Claeuw limited himself to painting still lifes. Born in Dordrecht, he travelled extensively in the Netherlands, visiting Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam. He was co-founder of the painters' guild in Dordrecht in 1642 and after becoming a member of the Guild of Saint Luke at The Hague in 1646, he married a daughter of the celebrated Dutch landscape painter, Jan van Goyen.
Certain objects in the present work are repeated in other paintings by him; the crucifix and ink well, for example, are also depicted in his 1650 Vanitas Still Life in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.1 The vibrant flowers, set against the crucifix, are a striking reminder of the transience of human life.