Nicolaes van Verendael

Probably Count Teodoro Lechi (1778–1866), Milan and Brescia;

Graf Samuel von Festetits (1806–1862), Vienna;

His sale, Vienna, A. Antaria, 11 April 1859, lot 32 (as oil on panel);

Friedrich Jakob Gsell (1812–1871), Vienna;

By whose Executors sold, Vienna, George Plach, 14 March 1872, lot 115 (as oil on canvas laid down on panel);

Thence by descent to the present owner.

This refined floral still life was painted by one of the most meticulous Flemish still-life painters of the later seventeenth century, Nicolaes van Verendael. His early œuvre primarily depicted small and bright bouquets of flowers in vases or cartouches and garlands surrounding a religious scene. This painting was once part of a larger composition, showing a garland of flowers surrounding a cartouche, partially visible in the background. A number of Verendael's compositions underwent a similar fate, perhaps to accommodate a growing market for secular and decorative images within the burgeoning middle-classes in eighteenth-century northern Europe; see for example the reduced floral still life dated 1676 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.¹

Friedrich Jakob Gsell (1812–1871), born in Strasbourg, settled in Vienna and was an important dealer in the wool trade. A patron of Rudolf von Alt, his significant art collection was housed in the ‘Galerie Gsell’ at his home on the Schmöllergasse.

¹ Acc. no. P.16-1914; oil on canvas, 44.4 x 63.5 cm.; no. P.16-1914.