Georg Flegel

Acquired in Anderson County, South Carolina, by a private collector in 2012;

By whom anonymously sold, Amesbury, Massachusetts, John McInnis Auctioneers, 2 March 2012, lot 1, for $180,000 (as Flemish School, 16th or 17th century);

Private collection, Massachusetts;

With Arnoldi-Livie Gallery, Munich (according to a label on the reverse).

Centered around a roast fowl displayed on a plain pewter dish, this perfectly balanced still life is a characteristic example of Georg Flegel's work, celebrated for its unadorned presentation and unpretentious simplicity. The symmetrical arrangement of the principal constituents is a recurring feature in his compositions, often bisected by diagonal elements, such as the knife and white radish, ingeniously placed in order to increase the overall illusion of three-dimensionality. In conception, this painting comes closest to a work in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, of comparable dimensions, which likewise features the same roast fowl at the centre, as well as an earthenware jug and white radish.¹ The distinctive carp's head in the lower right corner also recurs in exactly the same orientation in two other works by the artist: one in the Kunstmuseum Basel,² and the other in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn.³ The depiction of red and white currants is rarer, and only appears in another painting on panel, signed and dated 1632, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.⁴

Flegel was born in Olmütz (Olomouc), Moravia, the son of a shoemaker, and moved to Vienna after 1580 when the Counter Reformation started to take hold. There he became the assistant of Lucas van Valckenborch the Elder (1535–1597), with whom he collaborated on several paintings, following him to Frankfurt. Flegel spent the rest of his life and career in that city, then a center for art dealing and publishing, and he became an important influence on still-life painters active there such as Pieter Binoit (1590–1632), Isaak Soreau (1604–after 1645) and his pupil, Jacob Marrel (1614–1681).

The attribution to Georg Flegel has been endorsed by Dr. Anne-Dore Ketelsen-Volkhardt following first-hand inspection of the picture in 2012.⁵ She dated the work to circa 1610–20, and suggested the bread roll, earthenware jug, roemer and knife may have been added by the artist at a later date to balance the overall composition.

¹ Inv. no. ГЭ-5620; oil on canvas laid down on panel; 29.8 by 41.8 cm.; https://digital.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/01.+paintings/38668

² Inv. no. 1614; oil on canvas; 44.5 by 66.2 cm.; https://sammlungonline.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=2909&viewType=detailView

³ Inv. no. 40.55; oil on canvas; 40.5 by 35.2 cm.; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Flegel_-_Imbi%C3%9F_mit_Doppelpokal.jpg

⁴ Inv. no. 9864; oil on panel; 33 by 26.5 cm.; www.khm.at/en/object/2167/

⁵ A copy of the expertise by Dr. Anne-Dore Ketelsen-Volkhardt, dated 13 November 2012, is available upon request.